DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Health Services

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what use his Department makes of services offered by Resolution for serving and former armed forces personnel diagnosed with trauma; and if he will make a statement.

Kevan Jones: The MOD does not use the services of Resolution for the treatment of serving personnel. We operate our own 15 military Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMHs) across the UK and satellite centres overseas, which provide out-patient mental health care for serving personnel. These provide community-based mental health in line with the guidelines and standards set by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Service Frameworks.
	The DCMHs provide appropriately tested and effective methods of treatment for service personnel. While we remain in touch with advances and developments in treatment in order to ensure that patients receive the most effective and efficient management, it is essential that these are subject to proper scientific evaluation and comparison with current effective treatments.
	When personnel leave military service their health care becomes the responsibility of the NHS. The MOD, the four Health Departments and the Combat Stress charity have been working together with clinical experts and the Health and Social Care Advisory Service (HASCAS) to develop a new model of community based mental health care that will address assessment and treatment of veterans' mental health problems in the long term.
	The community mental health model will be led by the NHS. Two-year pilots are operating in Staffordshire and Shropshire, Camden and Islington, Cardiff, Bishop Auckland, Plymouth and Scotland. The pilots are centred on the client and GP with the aim of encouraging access to care through a range of gateways using an evidence-based approach reflecting NHS best practice. If these pilots prove successful the model will be rolled out across the UK. Evaluation of the pilot areas is now under way. In the interim, for areas not yet involved in the pilots, veterans with operational service after 1982 and mental health problems may attend our Medical Assessment Programme based at St. Thomas' Hospital.

Armed Forces: Housing

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2009,  Official Report, column 1043W, on armed forces: housing, how many complaints made to Modern Housing Solutions originated in each  (a) parish,  (b) local authority area and  (c) region.

Kevan Jones: The information is not held in the format requested. It is only possible to provide a regional breakdown of complaint origins and this is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  Modern Housing Solution Region  Area  Number 
			  East Brampton 10 
			  Chicksands 4 
			  Colchester 19 
			  Cottesmore 14 
			  Marham 5 
			  Thetford 5 
			  Wattisham 14 
			 East total  71 
			
			  West Abingdon 23 
			  Brize Norton 14 
			  Bushey 28 
			  High Wycombe 12 
			  Kingston 31 
			  Uxbridge 20 
			  Woolwich 5 
			 West total  133 
			
			  North Boulmer 2 
			  Catterick 15 
			  Waddington 16 
			  York 9 
			 North total  42 
			
			  South East Aldershot 60 
			  Arborfield 16 
			  Brompton 12 
			  Folkestone 9 
			  Gosport 22 
			  Portsmouth 20 
			 South East total  139 
			
			  South West Bovington 9 
			  Colerne 1 
			  Helston 3 
			  Larkhill 44 
			  Lympstone 3 
			  Lyneham 17 
			  Plymouth 6 
			  Warmister 10 
			 South West total  93 
			
			  West Chester 5 
			  Haverfordwest 1 
			  Hereford 5 
			  St. Athan 2 
			  Telford 12 
			  Weeton 5 
			 West total  30 
			
			 Total  508

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the recruitment  (a) target and  (b) level achieved was for each pinch point trade in the (i) Army, (ii) Royal Navy and (iii) Royal Air Force in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what the recruitment  (a) target and  (b) level achieved was for each pinch point trade for the (i) Army, (ii) Navy and (iii) Royal Air Force in each of the last five years.

Bob Ainsworth: Information relating to the recruitment into pinch point trades has hitherto been unavailable as the tracking of pinch point trades is a recent development in the management of key personnel. This has in part been rectified but not all of the information is currently available, particularly where pinch points occur in the middle of a rank ranged trade. The recruited figures provided in the following tables include personnel who are promoted into the trade and rank group, rejoined the armed forces or internally transferred.
	
		
			  Royal Navy 
			 Current shortfall  
			  Operational pinch point trades  Liability  Strength  Number  Percentage  Recruited 
			 Lt Cdr X SM Command Qualified (SM(CQ)) 47 45 2 5 13 
			 Lt X SM IWC Qualified and SQEP 40 39 1 3 16 
			 Principal Warfare Officers 359 289 70 20 13 
			 RN Harrier GR7/9 Instructors(1) 9 6 3 33 2 
			 RN Harrier GR7/9 Pilots (including Instructors)(1) 33 24 9 27 0 
			 MCD/MWO Lts 81 47 34 43 8 
			 Strategic Weapons Systems Junior Ranks 110 86 24 22 (2)— 
			 Merlin Pilots 122 78 44 36 8 
			 Merlin Observers 116 71 45 39 14 
			 Merlin Aircrewmen 103 80 23 22 7 
			 Leading Seaman General Warfare 1,105 815 290 26 342 
			 Able Rate Diver 135 95 40 30 39 
			 Lt X SM Advanced Warfare Course Qualified (SQEP) 34 30 4 12 16 
			 Able Rate 1 Seaman 388 291 97 25 389 
			 Able Rate 1 Warfare Specialist 666 635 31 5 (2)— 
			 Able Rate 1 Communications and Information Systems 367 335 32 9 (2)— 
			 Leading Aircraft Controllers 73 41 32 44 8 
			 Royal Marines Other Ranks (Pt-Cpl) 6,525 6,003 522 8 667 
			 Able Rate Warfare Specialist (Sensors Submariner) 178 144 34 17 177 
			 Sea-King and Lynx Avionics Supervisors 348 284 64 18 26 
			 Cat A2 Nuclear Watchkeepers 189 157 32 17 22 
			 Cat B Nuclear Watchkeepers 377 316 61 16 56 
			 L Logs(CS)(P) 328 261 67 25 72 
			 AB Logs (CS) (P) 456 447 9 2 112 
			 L Logs (Pers) 239 222 17 7 103 
			 AB Logs (Pers) 392 391 1 0 99 
			 LS (MW) 70 65 5 8 26 
			 Able Rate Warfare Specialist (Tactical Submariner) 124 116 8 7 35 
			 (1) GR7: Changes to liability and strength. Figures previously presented unfortunately contained administrative errors and reflected some confusion whereby GR7 qualifications have been replaced by GR9 qualifications. Searches within JPA for GR7 qualifications would not flag GR9 qualifications. RN GR9 pilot numbers have just been the subject of very detailed scrutiny. The updated strength figures reflects the growth of the RN Harrier cadre in accordance with the extant JFH manning plan but which unfortunately had not been reflected in the GR7-based OPP figures from last year. Those figures did not fully reflect all GR9 tagged pilots on JPA. (2) Not identifiable figures result from changes to the trade structure or where the specific trade cannot be broken down sufficiently to provide definitive numbers. 
		
	
	
		
			  Army 
			 Current shortfall  
			   Liability  Strength  Number  Percentage  Recruited 
			  Operational pinch point trades  
			 RE Clk of Wks: SSgt-WO1 248 237 11 4.4 19 
			 RLC Ammo Tech: Cpl-SSgt 306 176 130 42.5 50 
			 Infantry: Pte-LCpl 14,980 13,380 1,600 10.7 2,237 
			 REME Rec Mech: LCpl-Cpl 339 213 126 37.2 25 
			 RE EOD: Cpl-SSgt 131 109 22 16.7 33 
			 REME VM: Cfn-Cpl 3,521 3,224 297 8.4 525 
			 Int OPMI: Cpl-Sgt 708 476 232 32.8 102 
			 REME Armourer: Cfn-Cpl 377 303 74 19.6 54 
			 RA Gunner: Gnr-Bdr (including Para Cdo Gnrs and OP Asst) 4,987 4,490 497 10.0 (1)749 
			   
			  Manning pinch point trades  
			 AMS Radiologist: Maj+ 4 2 2 50.0 0 
			 AMS ITU Nurse: Cpl-Capt 121 35 86 71.1 5 
			 AMS EM Nurse: Cpl-Capt 101 38 63 62.4 3 
			 AMS Radiographer: Cpl+ 24 12 12 50.0 5 
			 AMS Anaesthetist: Maj+ 49 23 26 53.1 1 
			 AMS Orth Surg: Maj+ 13 10 3 23.1 4 
			 AMS Gen Surg: Maj+ 17 10 7 41.2 0 
			 REME Geo: Spr-WO2 365 284 81 22.2 41 
			 RLC P&C Op: Pte-Cpl 433 435 -2 -0.5 38 
			 RA UAV Op: LBdr-SSgt 370 299 71 19.2 (2)— 
			 REME Fitter: Spr-LCpl 495 409 86 17.4 85 
			 AGC(SPS) Mil Admin: Pte-Sgt 2,666 2,292 374 14.0 116 
			 AMSGMP: Capt+ 155 137 18 11.6 3 
			 R. Signals IS Engr: Cpl-Sgt 252 124 128 50.8 42 
			 CAMUS: Musician 300 199 101 33.7 10 
			 AMS ODP: Cpl+ 95 81 14 14.7 11 
			 AMS RGN: Cpl-Sgt 293 263 30 10.2 52 
			 REME C3S: Spr-LCpl 712 611 101 14.2 125 
			 RLC Chef: Pte-LCpl 1,459 1,383 76 5.2 196 
			 (1) Recruited only; does not include transfers or rejoins. (2) There are no available figures for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008; lost in cutover from GOST to JPA. 
		
	
	
		
			  Royal Air Force 
			 Current shortfall  
			   Liability  Strength  Number  Percentage  Recruited 
			  Operational pinch point trades  
			 Flying Branch (Career Stream) (Senior Officer) 677 576 101 15 98 
			 Pilot (Junior Officer) 1,490 1,288 202 14 132 
			 Operation Support (Intelligence) 229 224 5 2 6 
			 Operations Support (Regiment) 275 235 40 15 6 
			 Operations Support (Flight Operations) 224 219 5 2 18 
			 Medical 282 213 69 25 15 
			 Medical Nursing Officer 179 128 51 29 11 
			 Weapons System Operator (Crewman) 577 503 74 13 41 
			 Weapons System Operator (Linguist) 63 50 13 21 2 
			 Mechanical Transport Technician 355 342 13 3 — 
			 Gunner 1,924 1,702 222 11 144 
			 Firefighter 545 518 27 4 48 
			 Air Traffic Controller (ATC)/Flight Operations Manager (FOM)/Flight Operations Assistant (FOA) 1,246 1,228 18 1 81 
			 Logistics (Mover) 895 849 46 5 34 
			   
			  Manning pinch point trades  
			 Chaplains 78 63 15 19 1 
			 Operation Support (Air Traffic Control) 397 371 26 7 18 
			 Dental 71 57 14 20 2 
			 Intelligence (Analyst) 679 590 89 13 19 
			 Musician 175 152 23 13 15 
			 Weapons System Officer (Junior Officer) 513 439 74 14 20 
			 Operation Support (Aerospace Battle Manager) 342 293 49 14 21 
			 Personnel (Support) 521 494 27 5 32 
			 Personnel (Training) 219 198 21 10 10 
			 Aircraft Technician (Mechanical) 4,965 4,299 666 13 — 
			 Aircraft Technician (Avionics) 3,942 3,437 505 13 — 
			 General Technician (Electrical) 551 491 60 11 14 
			 General Technician (Mechanical) 963 436 527 55 15 
			 Biomedical Scientist 15 9 6 40 3 
			 Survival Equipment Fitter 607 562 45 7 15 
			 Dental Nurse 131 122 9 7 8

Departmental Security

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many security passes granting access to his Department's main building have been  (a) lost and  (b) stolen in each of the last 15 months.

Kevan Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 February 2009,  Official Report, column 522W, which provided details of lost and stolen passes for 2008.
	To date in 2009, 12 members of staff (including contractors) working in MOD Main Building reported their passes as lost. The monthly breakdown for 2009 is:
	
		
			  Month  Number lost 
			 January 2 
			 February 3 
			 March 7 
		
	
	No passes to date in 2009 have been reported as stolen. Once reported as lost or stolen, passes are disabled immediately, denying access to the building.

European Fighter Aircraft

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 4 March 2009,  Official Report, column 54WS, on aircraft (available support), what the payment schedule is for the contract with BAE Systems in respect of the Typhoon availability support service.

Quentin Davies: The financial arrangements for the Typhoon Availability Service (TAS) contract with BAE Systems include a payment schedule whereby payments are made monthly in arrears across the five year period of the contract; in addition, the contract includes incentivised performance targets and a gainshare arrangement.

Military Aircraft: Helicopters

Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he plans to put out to tender a contract to  (a) refurbish or  (b) replace the Puma support helicopter; and if he will make a statement.

Quentin Davies: The Department is currently working with EADS Eurocopter, the original manufacturer of the Puma aircraft, to finalise plans for the upgrade of the existing Puma fleet. This work will ensure the Puma aircraft can continue to provide a significant contribution to our helicopter lift capability for at least 10 years beyond its planned Out of Service Date (OSD) of 2012. We expect to make the main investment decision on this project later this year, at which time its revised OSD will be confirmed. In parallel, we are already developing plans to sustain our helicopter lift capability beyond the OSD of Puma, but it is too early to comment further on these plans.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Members' Constituency Work: Digital Technology

Andrew Miller: To ask the Leader of the House what mechanisms are in place to assist hon. Members to engage with their constituents through the use of interactive digital technology.

Chris Bryant: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) on 2 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1213W.

OLYMPICS

Departmental Public Appointments

Harry Cohen: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what information her Office holds on the number of persons appointed to executive positions in bodies for which her Office has responsibility who previously had careers in the banking industry.

Tessa Jowell: This information is not held centrally. However, I have been informed that no staff in executive positions at the Olympic Lottery Distributor and none of the Olympic Delivery Authority's Executive Management Board have a career history that involves the banking sector.
	The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games is a privately funded commercial organisation. Information about their executive staff members can be found on their website:
	http://www.london2012.com/about/the-people-delivering-the-games/the-london-2012-organising-committee/locog-board.php
	A copy of the relevant website pages will be placed in the House Libraries.

Departmental Sick Leave

Norman Lamb: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how many staff in her Office were on sick leave for  (a) over 30 days,  (b) over 50 days and  (c) over 100 days in each year since its inception.

Tessa Jowell: No members of staff in my private office have been on sick leave for 30 days or more since the inception of the Office.
	Annual sick leave statistics are published on the Cabinet Office website in the "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service", a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Exercise

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what methodology his Department uses to assess progress towards the target of two million people becoming more active by 2012; what date is being used as the baseline for the target; to which age groups the target is applied; what criteria are used to decide whether a person has become more active; and whether the target is applied to people with  (a) mental health problems,  (b) physical disabilities and  (c) learning disabilities.

Gerry Sutcliffe: The Government's 2012 Legacy Action Plan (LAP), published in June 2008, sets a cross-Government target to get 2 million more adults active through sport and physical activity by 2012. DCMS and Sport England lead on getting 1 million more people doing more sport. A range of Government departments will deliver programmes that will increase wider physical activity. Many of these programmes are outlined in the Department of Health's (DoH) new Physical Activity Plan 'Be Active, Be Healthy" published on 11 February 2009.
	Sport England's Active People survey will be the measure for the 2 million target. The baseline for the target will be established using the 2007-08 Active People survey, the results of which were published on 11 December 2008. The target is based on those adults aged 16 and over achieving three sessions of at least 30 minutes of at least moderate intensity activity per week. The target will also be informed by additional data collected on dance, active conservation and gardening from January 2009. A newly established Physical Activity Programme Board, chaired jointly by DoH and DCMS, will oversee the delivery of programmes against the LAP target.
	The LAP target applies to all adults aged over 16. Both the Sport England Strategy and Be Active Be Healthy recognise that people with disabilities, ranging from physical and neurological to sensory impairments and learning disabilities are at particular risk from inactivity.

Sport England

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance his Department has issued since 2001 to  (a) Sport England and  (b) national governing bodies on consulting other external organisations; and if he will make a statement.

Gerry Sutcliffe: My Department has not issued direct guidance to Sport England since 2001 on consulting external organisations. Sport England have advised that they did not issue formal guidance on consultation when engaging with national governing bodies in relation to their submission bids for funding. However as part of this funding process many national governing bodies consulted with a wide range of individuals and organisations relevant to their sport, including partners, registered members, clubs, coaches and volunteers, to help formulate and compile the final funding submission.
	Reviewing these submissions, Sport England has involved the support of its key national partners, including SportscoachUK, SkillsActive, Volunteering England, The English Federation of Disability Sport, Sporting Equals, The National Association for Volunteer and Community Action (NAVCA) and the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation to provide expert feedback and commentary upon each individual area of specialism.
	In addition an external advisory panel whose purpose it was to check and challenge the overall funding process, including some of the key principles of the funding allocation, included external partners from UK Sport, Youth Sport Trust, local authorities, national governing bodies, Volunteering England, Central Council of Physical Recreation and ex-athletes (Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and Jonathan Edwards).

TRANSPORT

A12: Colchester

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects work to start on the junction between the A12 and the Colchester Northern Approach Road; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Clark: Delivery of this scheme is related to planning conditions and is a matter for developers to take forward in line with plans for delivery of proposed housing, employment and leisure facilities in north Colchester. In view of this, a definite start date is not currently available but work is expected to start in 2009 subject to a detailed review of engineering issues and funding availability.

Airports: Security

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 18 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1146W, on airports: security, if he will make it his policy that passengers concerned about the effects on health of body scanners using backscatter x-ray technology have the option of a manual pat search should such technology be introduced.

Jim Fitzpatrick: There are currently no plans to introduce back-scatter x-ray technology at UK airports. All security technology is assessed to ensure that it is fully compliant with health and safety legislation.

Driving: Diabetes

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward proposals to provide that people with insulin-treated diabetes may drive heavy goods vehicles following the approval of a medical practitioner.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Drivers with diabetes treated by insulin, who have good diabetic control and who have no significant diabetic complications may apply for consideration of a category C1 licence (goods vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes). Applications must also be supported by a report from a medical practitioner specialising in the management of diabetes.
	An amendment to the minimum health standard set out in the second European Commission directive is also currently progressing through the EC legislative process. The UK will then review its current medical standards and, in consultation with the expert members of the Secretary of State for Transport's honorary medical advisory panel on driving and diabetes, consider the implications of diabetes for driving and whether there should be a relaxation of the current standards. Legislation may then be amended to accommodate any changes.

Heathrow Airport

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009,  Official Report, column 987W, on Heathrow Airport, what the position was which was confirmed by advice to Ministers in September 2007 and subsequently agreed to for the purposes of the Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport public consultation; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The hon. Member's previous questions related to air quality modelling results. The advice to Ministers in September 2007 confirmed the conclusions of the environmental assessment programme on the ability to meet noise and air quality limits if Heathrow was expanded. These conclusions were subsequently set out in the "Adding Capacity at Heathrow Airport" consultation document published in November 2007.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the oral statement of 15 January 2009,  Official Report, columns 355-60, on transport infrastructure, whether the Network Rail site at Old Oak Common is among those locations being considered for the proposed Heathrow rail hub.

Paul Clark: "Britain's Transport Infrastructure: High Speed Two", published on 15 January and available on the Department for Transport's website and the Libraries of the House, sets out what we expect "High Speed Two" to deliver. The remit of the company is, inter alia, to consider and provide advice to the Government by the end of 2009 on options for a "Heathrow International" interchange station on the Great Western main line including an interchange with Crossrail.

High Speed Trains: West Midlands

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will instruct High Speed Trains Ltd. to include in the proposals for high speed rail links being developed for his Department the provision of a high speed link from the West Midlands to Manchester.

Paul Clark: High Speed Two was formed to develop the case for high speed services between London and Scotland. As a first stage it will report by the end of the year with a proposed route from London to the West Midlands, with any necessary options including for stations. It will also consider the potential for new lines to serve the North of England and Scotland.
	In response to a letter dated 13 February from Sir David Rowlands, Chairman of High Speed Two, my noble Friend the Minister responsible for rail wrote to the company on 9 March setting out what the Government expect by the end of the year. Both letters are available in the Libraries of the House.

High Speed Trains: West Midlands

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects on  (a) national gross domestic product and  (b) the West Midlands economy of a high speed line from London to (i) Rugby and (ii) the centre of Birmingham.

Paul Clark: High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd. has been formed to develop the case for high speed services between London and Scotland.
	As a first stage, the company is expected to bring forward proposals for Britain's second new high speed line, between London and the West Midlands, by the end of the year, and to consider the potential for new lines to serve the North of England and Scotland. This will need to include an appraisal of the environmental, planning, technological, capacity, value for money and funding issues.
	In response to a letter dated 13 February from Sir David Rowlands, Chairman of High Speed Two, my noble Friend the Minister responsible for rail wrote to the company on 9 March setting out what the Government expect by the end of the year. Both letters are available in the Libraries of the House.

Opinion Leader Research

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his  (a) Department and  (b) its agencies have paid Opinion Leader Research in each year since November 2007.

Geoff Hoon: holding answer 24 March 2009
	No payments have been made by the Department for Transport to Opinion Leader Research Limited between 1 November 2007 and 23 March 2009.

Pedestrian Crossings

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to bring forward measures to enable local authorities to introduce countdown signs at pedestrian crossings.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has no plans to bring forward measures to enable local authorities to introduce countdown signs at pedestrian crossings.
	However, Transport for London are discussing their plans for pedestrian countdown timers with the Department, and are researching various options before seeking our approval for on-street trials.

Performing Arts

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department has engaged any  (a) actors,  (b) musicians and  (c) other performers to support its initiatives over the last five years.

Geoff Hoon: The Department for Transport has engaged actors, musicians and other performers over the last five years. Performers are typically engaged through third-party suppliers contracted to deliver marketing and education products or staff training.
	Examples include the use of performers by the central Department for THINK! Road Safety and Act On CO2 climate change commercials for radio, television and cinema as well as press, poster and online material. The Driving Standards Agency and Vehicle and Operator Services Agency have used performers in educational videos for young driver training and MOT testers respectively. The Highways Agency has used actors for role play in recruitment selection campaigns where this was considered beneficial and value for money. The Department has also used actors in role play exercises to aid learning and understanding in management development programmes and diversity awareness training, for example.
	Central records do not identify the number and discipline of the performers engaged directly or indirectly by the Department and additional detail could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Railway Stations: Winchester

Mark Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many train stations in Winchester constituency have been made accessible to wheelchair users in the last three years.

Paul Clark: No stations in the Winchester constituency have been made fully accessible within the last three years. Winchester station is set to benefit from a new obstacle-free accessible route in the period 2012-15 through the Government's Access for All programme. Micheldever, Shawford, Botley and Winchester stations have also been awarded more than £27,000 of Government funding through the Access for All Small Schemes programme towards over £65,000 of access improvements.

Railways

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average inter-city train speed was for each train operating company in each year since 1997.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport does not hold information on average speeds by train operating company.

Railways

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether High Speed Two Ltd has been instructed to produce proposals for high-speed rail links other than between London and the West Midlands; and whether the route between London and the West Midlands will carry freight rail services.

Paul Clark: High Speed Two has been formed to help develop the case for high speed services between London and Scotland.
	My noble Friend the Minister of State (Lord Adonis) has written to Sir David Rowlands, Chairman of High Speed Two (HS2) setting out what the Government expect of the company. A copy of this letter is available in the Libraries of the House.
	As a first stage, High Speed Two will report by the end of the year with a proposed route from London to the West Midlands, setting out any necessary options, including freight capability of a new line and how best to use the released capacity as a result of HS2 on existing lines for both passenger and freight. It will also consider the potential for new lines to serve the north of England and Scotland, providing advice on the potential development of a high speed line beyond the West Midlands, at the level of broad "corridors". We have asked the company to consider in particular the potential for HS2 to extend to the conurbations of Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland.

Railways: Finance

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport over what period his Department plans to allocate funding to High Speed Two; and from which budget.

Paul Clark: I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 23 March 2009,  Official Report, column 6W.

Railways: Overcrowding

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to extend the passengers in excess of capacity measurement to include services which do not start or end in London.

Paul Clark: In line with the initiatives in the White Paper "Delivering a Sustainable Railway" to provide additional capacity through the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) on the rail network, the Department for Transport is currently developing measures to monitor passenger numbers in defined regional cities in England. This is based on count programmes instigated by the Department from late 2006 to ascertain passenger demand in defined regional cities.
	In addition, all franchises let after 2004, including those outside London, contain capacity benchmarks against which the operators are measured.

Railways: Overcrowding

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what methods his Department is considering to improve the accuracy of measurement of overcrowding on trains outside of London and the South East.

Paul Clark: The July 2007 White Paper, "Delivering a Sustainable Railway", sets out a capacity metric in a High Level Output Specification (HLOS). The Department for Transport is currently developing a process by which it will report levels of crowding and delivery of the HLOS capacity metric across franchised train operating companies (TOCs). This will involve gathering information on crowding levels during the morning peak in London and in other cities.
	In addition, all franchises let after 2004, including those outside London, contain capacity benchmarks against which the operators are measured.

Railways: Standards

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much compensation has been paid by Network Rail to train operating companies for delays in each year since 2000.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport does not hold the information requested. This is an operational matter for Network Rail. The hon. Member should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his question:
	Iain Coucher
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	Kings Place
	90 York Way
	London, N1 9AG.

Railways: Standards

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much compensation has been paid to passengers by each train operating company for delays in each year since 2000.

Paul Clark: Information on compensation paid to passengers is not held by the Department for Transport. The hon. Member may wish to contact the individual companies for this information.

Railways: Standards

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to business of  (a) road and  (b) rail congestion in the latest year for which figures are available.

Paul Clark: The Eddington Study, published in 2006, made use of analysis produced using the Department for Transport's national transport model. This study looked at the costs of additional road congestion, rather than the absolute costs of congestion. It estimated that the increase in time lost due to road congestion between 2003 and 2025 for business (including freight) would be worth £10 to £12 billion by 2025 in 2002 prices. This is a direct cost to the economy.
	No estimate has been made by the Department of the costs of rail congestion on business, measured either in terms of crowding or reliability.

Railways: Standards

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of train  (a) delays and  (b) cancellations as a result of snow and freezing conditions there have been since 19 December 2008.

Paul Clark: Information on the disruption of rail services, including incidents of train delays and cancellations as a result of snow and freezing conditions, is collected and processed by Network Rail. The right hon. and learned Member may wish to contact Network Rail for this information at the following address:
	Iain Coucher
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	Kings Place
	York Way
	London
	N1 9AG.

Road Traffic: Road Works

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what recent assessment his Department has made of the amount of congestion which is linked to street works in  (a) England,  (b) each region and  (c) each London borough;
	(2)  what assessment his Department has made of the year-on-year change in the amount of congestion resulting from street works in  (a) England,  (b) each region and  (c) each London borough in each of the last 11 years.

Paul Clark: In 2004, the third, and final, annual report commissioned by Department for Transport on the effectiveness of section 74 of New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 in reducing unnecessary disruption of the highway was completed. Using information provided by 25 highway authorities across England, an extrapolation was made that there were some 1.2 million street works (works in the highway by undertakers, mainly utility companies). The study also estimated that the impact on congestion in England could be valued at £4.3 billion each year. A copy of the report has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
	The Department has commissioned further research to study the adoption of new street work powers introduced through the Traffic Management Act 2004. This is expected to report in 2010.

Road Traffic: Traffic Lights

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effect of re-phasing traffic lights on levels of congestion in  (a) England,  (b) each region and  (c) each London borough in each of the last 11 years.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has made no national or regional assessment of the effect on congestion of re-phasing traffic signals.

Road Works

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects the first local authority road works permitting scheme to be established under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004; and where he expects it to be established.

Paul Clark: holding answer 24 March 2009
	Applications to operate permit schemes have been received from Transport for London and 14 London boroughs for a London Common Permit scheme and from Kent county council for the Secretary of State's approval. The Kent application is currently being considered by officials in the Department for Transport. The applicant authorities for the London Common Permit scheme have, following an interim response from the Department, decided to carry out a further consultation—due to close on 5 June—before resubmitting the application. It is not possible at this stage to predict either the outcome of an application or, if successful, when a permit scheme may come into force.

Road Works

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has met representatives of utility companies to discuss street works since his appointment.

Paul Clark: The Secretary of State for Transport has not met representatives of utility companies to discuss street works. However, I had a meeting on 25 March with the National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG), which represents water and energy utility companies, as well as some telecoms companies, to discuss street works. I also spoke at NJUG's parliamentary reception and award ceremony in December 2008.

Road Works: Fixed Penalties

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how much was paid in fixed penalty notices for street works issued under the provision of regulations in the Traffic Management Act 2004 in  (a) each English region and  (b) each London borough in each of the last three years;
	(2)  how many fixed penalty notices for street works have been issued under the provision of regulations in the Traffic Management Act 2004 in  (a) each English region and  (b) each London borough in each of the last three years.

Paul Clark: The powers to use fixed penalty notices (FPNs), as an alternative to prosecution, for certain offences under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 were brought into force on 12 May 2008.
	The Department for Transport does not hold or collect information on either the number of FPNs given or the amount paid.

Roads: Accidents

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many deaths there were resulting from traffic related incidents in 30 miles per hour zones in  (a) Castle Point and  (b) Essex in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Numbers of fatalities resulting from reported personal injury road accidents on roads with a 30 mph speed limit in  (a) Castle Point and  (b) Essex in each of the last five years are given in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of fatalities 
			   (a) Castle Point  (b) Essex 
			 2003 2 32 
			 2004 1 23 
			 2005 0 20 
			 2006 1 24 
			 2007 2 21

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), how many of the 12,500 long-term jobs he estimates will be created or safeguarded by the contract to re-equip the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines with new inter-city express trains will be in  (a) train maintenance and  (b) the supply chain.

Paul Clark: Agility Trains anticipates that of the estimated 12,500 total jobs to be created or safeguarded, 2,500 will be directly employed by the Agility Trains consortium. Of these, an estimated 1,400 jobs will be safeguarded in train maintenance, and an estimated 1,100 jobs will be created in train and factory construction.
	Of the remaining estimated 10,000 jobs, Agility Trains anticipates that they are likely to be within train vehicle component suppliers, third party suppliers and the wider economy.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), how much he expects to be invested in the UK by Agility Trains following the award of the contract.

Paul Clark: Agility Trains has stated publicly that it is committed to spending 70 per cent. of the contract value in the UK.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), what discussions he has had with Agility Trains on  (a) the proposed sites for the new maintenance depots and  (b) upgrades to existing maintenance depots following the award of the contract.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport facilitated visits to existing Network Rail depots for all bidders during early 2008. Dialogue regarding the bidders' depots and maintenance proposals continued with both Agility Trains and Express Rail Alliance throughout the bidding process, up to the selection of Preferred Bidder. Further dialogue with Agility Trains, the Preferred Bidder, will continue until the award of the contract.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), whether the  (a) body shells,  (b) engines and  (c) bogies for the contract to supply new inter-city express trains are to be manufactured in the UK.

Paul Clark: Agility Trains has said that the body shells for the new trains will initially be made in Japan using Hitachi's friction stir-welding technique. The Department for Transport anticipates that Agility Trains will establish facilities for friction on stir-welding in the UK as soon as practicable following contract award. The company is yet to announce the source country for either the engines or the bogies for the new trains, but has committed to spend 70 per cent. of the Super Express Trains contract value in the UK.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), whether an environmental impact assessment was made of the specifications for the supply of new inter-city express trains contained in bids submitted by  (a) Agility Trains and  (b) Bombardier Trains.

Paul Clark: The delivery of an environmentally sustainable solution for the Intercity Express Programme is a key objective for the Department for Transport (see section 1.2 of the Invitation to Tender). The technical appraisal of the Concept Train Design, from both Agility Trains and Express Rail Alliance, included an assessment of the environmental considerations defined by sections 3.6-3.9 (inclusive) of the Train Technical Specification and section 7.1.2 of the Invitation to Tender.
	Both the Invitation to Tender and the Train Service Specification can be accessed via:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/iep/iepinvitationtotender/

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), when he expects Agility Trains to establish facilities for friction stir welding.

Paul Clark: The Department for Transport anticipates that Agility Trains will establish facilities for friction stir-welding in the UK as soon as practicable following contract award.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), if he will make representations to his Japanese counterpart on the market access for the export of trains and rolling stock to Japan.

Paul Clark: The European Commission has highlighted the difficulties of entry for non-Japanese companies into the Japanese rail market. The Foreign Office continues to work with the European Commission—which is taking the lead in this area—to raise the issue of barriers to market entry with the Japanese government.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), how many UK-based suppliers he estimates will benefit indirectly from the contract with Agility Trains.

Paul Clark: Agility Trains announced on 12 February that it was in advanced discussions with 20 UK-based suppliers. Since then, the company has put out a call for further interested suppliers, which can be found on their website at
	www.agilitytrains.com

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), when he expects to announce the location of the new train assembly and manufacturing facility to be established by Agility Trains following the award of the contract.

Paul Clark: The announcement of the location of the site is expected to be made by Agility Trains following contract award later this year.

Rolling Stock

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the statement of 12 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1531-44, on new trains (investment), whether production of the new inter-city express trains in the UK will be at  (a) a manufacturing facility and  (b) an assembly facility.

Paul Clark: The production of the new Super Express trains will be in a UK manufacturing facility.

Surveys

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009,  Official Report, column 362W, on departmental surveys, if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of the 2008 staff survey undertaken by his Department.

Geoff Hoon: Staff surveys are valuable tools used by Departments to help them improve performance. The results of the most recent survey of the central Department for Transport are available on the Civil Service website at:
	http://beta.civilservice.gov.uk/about/who/statistics/staff-survevs.aspx

Traffic Lights

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how many traffic lights there are on public roads in  (a) England,  (b) each region and  (c) each London borough;
	(2)  what increase in the number of traffic lights on public roads there has been in  (a) England,  (b) each region and  (c) each London borough in each of the last 10 years.

Paul Clark: This information is not held centrally. The Department for Transport does not collect information on the numbers of traffic signals in use in the UK.

Transport: Coastal Areas

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps the Government is taking to improve transport links to seaside resorts.

Paul Clark: Transport relating to seaside resorts in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly government.
	When determining funding for transport schemes in England, the Department does not explicitly take into consideration the fact that a settlement is a seaside town. The Government take a wide range of factors into account—including regeneration benefits—in the economic assessment of a scheme's benefits.
	In recent years they have funded a number of local authority projects that improve links to seaside resorts. These include the Scarborough Integrated Transport Scheme and the A158 Burgh-Le-Marsh Bypass, which serves Skegness.
	A further 13 projects that will improve transport links to seaside towns in England have funding allocated in the Regional Funding Allocation programme. These schemes are at various stages of development and should be completed between now and 2019, subject to meeting the Department's business case requirements.
	As well as funding from the Regional Funding Allocation, local transport authorities are able to target resources, according to local needs and priorities, from their Revenue Support Grant and Rural Bus Subsidy Grant allocations to improve transport links to seaside resorts in their area.
	A number of rail lines serving seaside resorts have benefited from the joint working of local authorities and the railway industry through community rail partnerships.

Transport: Expenditure

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proportion of his Department's spending related to projects intended to encourage  (a) cycling and  (b) bus use in the last 12 months.

Geoff Hoon: Overall spending in 2008-09 is forecast to be £18,101 million. Of this the Department for Transport has earmarked £20 million specifically for cycling schemes (which is 0.1 per cent. of the overall budget). Spending on encouraging bus use (including Bus Service Operators Grant, Concessionary Fares and other items) was £703.5 million, which corresponds to 3.9 per cent. of overall spend.
	In addition expenditure such as Sustainable Travel and Integrated Transport grants amounted to £3,927.1 million (21.7 per cent.). This incorporates an element for encouraging cycling and bus use that cannot be separately identified.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what targets his Department has set in relation to the time taken for processing applications for funding under those components of the Rural Development Programme England which are administered by regional development agencies.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Details of Rural Development Programme for England processing targets are being discussed with Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) as part of a review of existing service level agreements between DEFRA, RDAs and the Rural Payments Agency.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much funding he expects to be allocated in grants made under the Rural Development Programme England in 2009.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA manages its finances on a financial year basis (1 April to 31 March). DEFRA expects to spend £417 million on grants under the Rural Development Programme for England in 2008-09. We are currently budgeting to spend £550 million under the programme in 2009-10.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will bring forward proposals to simplify the application process for allocation of funds under the Rural Development Programme England.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) is still at a relatively early stage of implementation and we are keeping all processes under review with delivery bodies. The general approach to applications is designed to meet the requirements of EU and national regulations and, where appropriate, tailored to meet regional needs. Natural England is currently reviewing the way it allocates funds to applicants to environmental stewardship as part of a scheme efficiencies project. Application processes will be formally considered as part of the RDPE mid-term evaluation.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the mechanisms by which grants are awarded to applicants under Axis 1 and Axis 3 of the Rural Development Programme England.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA officials meet regularly with the Regional Development Agencies which are responsible for awarding grants under Axis 1 and Axis 3 of the Rural Development Programme for England where the effectiveness of their delivery mechanisms are reviewed.

Beavers

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his policy is on the reintroduction of beavers into the wild.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Labour rural manifesto of 2005 said that a Labour Government would support the reintroduction of former native species if justified on environmental and sustainability grounds. However the Government are also committed to conserving our existing native species and habitats and it is important to use our resources wisely for this purpose. Any proposal to reintroduce formerly native species would therefore have to be very carefully considered.
	I am aware that the Scottish Executive issued a licence for a trial reintroduction of beavers late in 2008 and that in Wales a feasibility study on reintroduction is currently under way. In England, the results of a joint scientific study into the desirability and feasibility of reintroducing the European beaver to the English countryside were published on 18 March 2009 by Natural England and the People's Trust for Endangered Species. Natural England jointly commissioned the study in order to better prepare itself for the possibility of a licence application to release beavers in England. The report identifies a number of benefits associated with the reintroduction of beavers. It also highlights a number of issues that we would expect to be thoroughly addressed before Natural England considered licensing a reintroduction programme.
	We would expect Natural England to take account of the applicable International Union for Conservation of Nature guidelines, to consider the views of interested parties and in particular to be satisfied that the reintroduction would not have a significant adverse impact on natural or semi-natural habitats, native wildlife or socio-economic interests and that measures could be put in place to deal with any unforeseen problems, should they occur.

Bluetongue Disease: Vaccination

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what percentage of livestock farmers in each region who have vaccinated their livestock against bluetongue disease; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Vaccination in England and Wales for BTV8 is voluntary. This approach gives farmers the opportunity to judge for themselves the benefits of vaccinating. Experience in 2008 suggests that a majority of farmers do see the benefits of vaccination. A voluntary programme therefore enables these farmers to protect their livestock at the minimum possible cost.
	We monitor uptake through sales data; farmers are not required to notify us of vaccination due to the additional burdens and costs this would involve. During 2008 overall level of uptake across England was 60 per cent., or 16 million doses sold.
	
		
			  Region  Percentage uptake( 1) 
			 South of England 94 
			 South East >95 
			 South West 83 
			 East Midlands 73 
			 West Midlands 53 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 42 
			 North West 27 
			 North East 26 
			 (1) Approximately, according to sales data. 
		
	
	Vaccination played a vital role in keeping us free from circulating BTV8 disease last year. If adequate vaccination levels are not reached this year, and BTV8 is reintroduced, the disease will spread to unvaccinated animals. The disease is still present and circulating in neighbouring EU member states. Farmers and livestock keepers should not become complacent and should vaccinate their animals for BTV8 as soon as possible.

Deer

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make an estimate of changes in the roe deer population in the last five years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: In 2005 the Tracking Mammals Partnership reported that observations on roe deer made by British Trust for Ornithology volunteers undertaking the Breeding Bird Survey increased by 56 per cent. between 1995 and 2005. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust National Gamebag Census records for roe deer increased by 34.1 per cent. between 1995 and 2003. However, it is not certain how well these observations correspond to changes in abundance.
	Recent extrapolated estimates of national abundance of roe deer in England by the Central Science Laboratory, the Deer Initiative and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation range between 90,000 and 324,000, but it is not possible to conclude which of these is most accurate because surveys of deer abundance are not conducted nationally or regionally. However, the British Deer Society collects national deer distribution data on a five-yearly cycle. Analysis of their latest results, by the Central Science Laboratory, suggests that roe deer may have expanded their national range by 5.2 per cent. between 2002 and 2007.

Departmental Bank Services

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with which banks his Department has or has had contracts for the provision of financial advice, for the financial year 2008-09.

Huw Irranca-Davies: In the financial year 2008-09, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not held any contracts for the provision of financial advice with any bank.

Departmental Electricity Generation

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what  (a) capital and  (b) maintenance expenditure his Department has incurred on standby diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of his Department's estate in each year since March 1997.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 25 March 2009
	The Department does not hold records of capital spend prior to 2002, and there has been no such expenditure on stand-by generators for the period April 2002 to March 2009.
	The total expenditure on maintenance of stand-by generators for the period April 1997 to March 2009 is £52,500. We are unable to provide an annual breakdown of this figure.

Departmental Public Consultation

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many public consultations his Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was.

Huw Irranca-Davies: DEFRA has conducted 81 consultations over the last 12 months. Details are set out in the following table. Details of the costs of the consultations are not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Consultation title  Duration of consultation (Weeks)  Number of responses received to each consultation 
			 Consultation on proposal of 2 per cent. milk quotas 5-6 16 
			 Consultation on national listing and plant breeders' right fees 12 11 
			 Consultation on Surface Water Management 12 148 
			 Consultation on guidance to Ofwat 12 43 
			 Consultation on phosphates in detergents-laundry 12 24 
			 Consultation on sustainable products (published on Market Transformation programme website) 12 19 
			 Consultation on charging for CITES licences 12 58 
			 Consultation on the future of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability fund April 2008 to March 2011 12 78 
			 Consultation on river basin planning (volume) 12 46 
			 Consultation on the transposition of Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom 12 9 
			 Consultation on Implementation of Fruit and Vegetable Reforms 12 12 
			 Consultation on Environmental Liability Directive: 2nd consultation 12 67 
			 Consultation on European Fisheries Fund: UK Operational programme (1st phase) 4 36 
			 Consultation on Fal and Helford 6 19 
			 Consultation on Statutory Notification requirements for potatoes introduced into England and Wales from other EU member states 12 3 
			 Consultation on joint Waste Authorities 12 84 
			 Consultation on Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 2007; Directive 2004/12/EC (amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste) 8 499 
			 Consultation on the remaking of the Drinking Milk regulations 5 1 
			 Consultation on Soil Strategy for England 12 64 
			 Consultation on TSE Regulations 2007 12 10 
			 Consultation draft Marine Bill 12 3,899 
			 Consultation on the strategy of health of honey bees 12 86 
			 Consultation on European Fisheries Fund: UK Operational programme (2nd phase) 8 72 
			 Consultation on the EU Commission's proposals to amend the EU ETS from 2013 12 94 
			 Consultation on the remaking of Eggs and Chicks (England) Regulations 2008 2 0 
			 Consultation on draft AQEG report: Ozone in the United Kingdom 12 8 
			 Consultation on EPAQS report: guidelines for metals and metalloids in ambient air for the protection of human health 12 3 
			 Consultation on EPAQS report: Addendum to Guidelines for halogen and hydrogen halides in ambient air for protecting human health against acute irritancy effects 12 3 
			 Consultation on groundwater regulations 12 31 
			 Consultation on the European Commission's proposed Directive on Industrial Emissions (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) (Recast)—Intensive livestock 8 20 
			 Consultation on the European Commission's proposed Directive on Industrial Emissions (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) (Recast) 8 50 
			 Consultation on the European Commission's proposed Directive on Industrial Emissions (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)(Recast)—Combustion Plants 8 36 
			 Consultation on REACH Enforcement 12 23 
			 Consultation on Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976—reform order 12 44 
			 Consultation on the European Commission's proposed Directive on Industrial Emissions (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)(Recast)—emissions 12 23 
			 Consultation on CAP health checks 12 180 
			 Consultation on Wine SI 2008 4 3 
			 Consultation on Sector Guidance Note SG8: Rendering 8 4 
			 A second consultation on the controls on the handling, transfer and transport of waste 12 122 
			 Consultation on White Paper—Radioactive Waste—published on homepages 12 181 
			 Consultation on revised UK Strategy for Radioactive Waste and Consultation on Discharge Limits 2006-30 12 UK Strategy 9 
			   Discharge limits 21 
			 Consultation on Revised Membership Arrangements for Northumberland National Park Authority 12 13 
			 Consultation on Wildlife Management strategy 12 46 
			 Consultation on Our Seas—a shared resource 12 84 
			 Consultation on The Beef and Veal Labelling Regulations 2008 (England) 12 5 
			 Consultation on air quality guidance 12 28 
			 Consultation on f gases and ozone 12 99 
			 Consultation on Phytopthora Ramorem and Phytophthora kernoviae 12 41 
			 Consultation on DEFRA's Contingency Plan 2008 12 29 
			 Consultation on Gangmasters Licensing (Exclusions) regulations 12 39 
			 Consultation on changes to the Local Government Act 1972 to allow local authorities in England to work together on animal health 12 10 
			 Consultation on a Code of Practice for the sustainable use of soils on construction sites 12 23 
			 Consultation on Direct Elections to National Park Authorities 12 496 
			 Consultation on flood resilience 12 57 
			 Consultation on flooding, coastal erosion management 12 47 
			 Consultation on review of waste exemptions 12 285 
			 Consultation on plans to meet EU air quality limit values 12 2 
			 Consultation on the English inshore fleet—looking to the future 12 286 
			 Consultation on private water supplies 12 105 
			 Consultation on aviation action plans 12 86 
			 Consultation on VMD 12 58 
			 Consultation on common land councils 12 49 
			 Consultation on Recycling Service guidance 12 26 
			 Consultation on NCP Broiler flocks regulations 12 15 
			 Consultation on LA Environmental Regulation of Industrial plant 2009-10 fees and charges 12 26 
			 Consultation on the Conservation Varieties 12 14 
			 Consultation on direction to the EA on classification of water bodies 12 17 
			 Consultation on carbon accounting regulations 12 43 
			 Consultation on proposed changes to BSE testing 4 28 
			 Consultation on code of practice on cat, dog and equidae 12 Cat 79 
			   Dog 136 
			   Equidae 36 
			 Consultation on revision of our swine vesicular disease legislation 12 11 
			 Consultation on the code of practice for animal feeds 12 14 
			 Consultation on the equine ID 12 72 
			 Consultation on animal by-products regulations 12 59 
			 Consultation on hazardous waste regulations 12 69 
			 Consultation on the Better Regulation review and 6-year review 12 Better regulation 41 
			   6-year review 27 
			 Consultation on School Milk 12 17 
			 Consultation on Marine Works (amendment to regulations) 12 29 
			 Consultation on the Rules of court for the water and sewerage special administration regime (consultation ends 20 March 2009) 12 (1)0 
			 Consultation on National Flood Emergency framework (consultation ends 27 March 2009) 12 (1)2 
			 Consultation on Water Protection Zones (consultation ends 31 March 2009) 12 (1)0 
			 DEFRA/BERR joint Consultation on Batteries Directive—draft regulations—published on BERR website to date to date 12 128 
			 (1) To date.

Dogs

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what guidance his Department has issued to police and local authorities on the law on dangerous dogs in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: We have not issued guidance to enforcers on the law on dangerous dogs since the 2003 guidance was issued. We are planning to release updated guidance shortly.

Dogs: Licensing

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he plans to reintroduce dog licences; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 23 March 2009
	DEFRA has no plans to reintroduce mandatory dog licences.
	The dog licence was repealed by the Local Government Act 1988 because it cost more to administer than the revenue it generated and because it was estimated that only 44 per cent. of dog owners bought a licence. DEFRA supports voluntary identification, whereby dog owners voluntarily undertake to have their pets permanently identified and registered on nationwide databases.

Farms: Bio-security

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to improve bio-security on farms.

Jane Kennedy: It is the livestock keeper's responsibility and it is in their interests to practise good husbandry and biosecurity procedures in order to minimise the risk of disease and the economic impacts on reduced productivity.
	The Government work in partnership with industry to raise awareness of and promote good husbandry and biosecurity practice. This includes buying in healthy stock, providing clean food and water, maintaining good standards of hygiene, separation/isolation of new or ill stock, traceability and proper record keeping.
	Encouraging and incentivising livestock keepers to implement good biosecurity on the ground is part of the work currently being taken forward with industry as part of the Responsibility and Cost sharing programme of work. This includes DEFRA's 'Give Disease the Boot' campaign promoted through Livestock Market Roadshows and the Farm Health Planning Initiative. This initiative is about livestock owners working closely with their vet or other adviser on setting targets for their animals' health and welfare and taking steps to measure, manage and monitor productivity.

Flood Control

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Stafford of 20 January 2009,  Official Report, column 1286W, on the Floods and Water Bill, when he expects to publish the draft Floods and Water Bill.

Huw Irranca-Davies: I refer the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey to my reply of 9 December 2008,  Official Report, column 39W.

Floods: Property Development

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will make it his policy to increase the restrictions on development in flood risk areas; and if he will make a statement.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Planning policy is the responsibility of the Department for Communities and Local Government, and my Department has worked closely with them to ensure that the planning system properly takes account of the risks from all sources of flooding.
	Planning Policy Statement 25 (PPS25), "Development and Flood Risk", provides the policy framework for local planning authorities to avoid, manage and reduce flood risk to new development. This is supported by the Practice Guide published in June 2008 to assist local planners in implementing PPS25 policy. In his Review of the summer 2007 floods, Sir Michael Pitt agreed that current policy in PPS25 was right, but that it should be rigorously applied by local authorities. The Government are continuing to work closely with local authorities, the Environment Agency and other stakeholders to ensure that the policy approach in PPS25 is properly implemented and delivered on the ground.

Floods: Slapton

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which organisations are represented in the Slapton Line Partnership; what progress has been made on the Slapton Line project since January 2007; what proportion of the funds allocated by his Department to the project have been spent to date; what the primary areas of expenditure have been; what lessons have been learnt from the project on coastal erosion and flood defences; what evidence of coastal erosion at Slapton has been identified during the project; and if he will make a statement.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer  23 March 2009
	The organisations which are represented in the Slapton Line Partnership consist of the Partnership Steering Group and an advisory group.
	The Partnership Steering Group meets quarterly and comprises of Devon County Council, South Hams District Council, Natural England, the Environment Agency, Slapton Ley Field Centre and South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty unit.
	The Advisory Group meets twice a year and has representatives from Slapton Parish Council, Strete Parish Council, Stokenham Parish Council, East Allington Parish Council, HM Coastguard, Coleridge Association, Slapton Line Defence Group, Whitley Wildlife Conservation Trust, and the Strete Estate. The advisory group is open to public attendance.
	The project programme is driven by the adaptation plan first developed at a community planning event held in 2006. Work undertaken so far includes support for local small business, improved communication with local residents, the 'Celebrate Start Bay' event, replenishing shingle bastions, contingency planning and alternative route development.
	60 per cent. of the grant from DEFRA's flood and coastal risk management innovation fund has been spent or committed so far. The primary areas of expenditure are business (including tourism), support and communications, contingency planning and beach monitoring.
	The project is primarily focused on assisting the local community in anticipating and adapting to coastal changes.
	Contingency preparation for the road closure could have created a negative image for a tourism area. A more positive long-term future has been developed by working with local businesses which includes promoting Start Bay as a tourism destination.
	Shingle beach experts at Plymouth university are advising the Partnership on the planning and orientation of the shingle bastions. A full report will be produced at the conclusion of the project at the end of March 2010.
	Monitoring shows that the beach has continued to vary dramatically following easterly storm events with a general steepening. The crest is largely static and no major erosion events have taken place since 2001. Long-term measurements have suggested an average erosion rate of 0.3m/year.

Horses: Databases

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking in respect of equines for which the owners do not hold passports.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 23 March 2009
	The current horse passports regime is enforced by local authorities and the Meat Hygiene Service. When the new EU equine identification legislation is introduced in July we propose to expand the enforcement bodies to include Animal Health Officers who will perform checks on farms and yards.

Horses: Databases

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanism there is to establish that an applicant for a horse passport is the legal owner of the animal.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 23 March 2009
	Horse passports are not ownership documents, but are intended to identify the horse and record veterinary medicines. Individual passport-issuing organisations set their own rules on what ownership documentation, if any, needs to be provided as part of a passport application.

Horses: Databases

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what checks on equines presented for slaughter are undertaken to establish that the person presenting the animal  (a) is its legal owner and  (b) holds a valid passport for the animal.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 23 March 2009
	The Meat Hygiene Service enforces the horse passports regulations at slaughterhouses. The Official Veterinarian is required to check that the horse presented for slaughter has a valid passport that matches the animal. Checks are also performed to ensure the passport is completed correctly and the horse is eligible for entry into the food chain. There is no requirement to establish that the person presenting the horse is the legal owner.

Lighting: Health Hazards

Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether he has considered the merits of introducing health warnings on the packaging of energy saving light bulbs.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
	The Health Protection Agency has issued precautionary advice to the public concerning the use of open compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in certain close-working situations and on disposal of CFLs on their website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename= HPAweb%2FPage%2FHPAwebAutoListName&cid= 1153999752025&p=1153999752025&pagename=HPAweb Wrapper&searchmode=simple& searchterm=CFLs&go=Go
	The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also has advice on its website concerning mercury and the disposal of CFLs at:
	www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/household/products/cfl.htm
	European regulations will require manufacturers to provide information on disposal and what to do if a lamp breaks, in terms of mercury, on the packaging from 2010.
	The Department of Health is continuing to work with patient groups, clinicians and the lighting industry to keep health issues under review. The Department has no plans at present for additional health advice regarding energy saving light bulbs for the public at large.
	Some support groups for people with certain light sensitive skin, autoimmune and neurological conditions have raised concerns that some low energy light bulbs, particularly CFLs, could aggravate light sensitivity symptoms.

Litter: Fines

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what average fine was imposed for littering offences in England in each of the last three years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Fixed penalty notice fines for littering can range between £50 and £80 with local authorities able to offer the lower figure for immediate payment.
	In 2006-07 a total of 43,624 fines for littering were issued with a payment rate of over 60 per cent. drawing in a total of £1,521,905—an average of £57 per fixed penalty notice.
	In 2005-06 a total of 33,033 fines for littering were issued with a payment rate of over 54 per cent. drawing in a total of £911,813—an average of £51 per fixed penalty notice.
	Data for 2007-08 will become available later this year.

Litter: Fines

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what average fine has been issued as a fixed penalty notice under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 by  (a) Kensington and Chelsea,  (b) Westminster,  (c) Liverpool,  (d) City of York and  (e) Doncaster local authorities were in the last 12 months.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The average fine issued under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 by  (a) Kensington and Chelsea,  (b) Westminster,  (c) Liverpool,  (d) City of York and  (e) Doncaster in 2006-07 is listed in the following table. Data for 2007-08 will become available later this year.
	
		
			  Local authority  Number of fines paid  Amount received (£)  Average fine (£) 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 323 16,150 50 
			 Westminster 968 50,230 51.89 
			 Liverpool 246 17,950 72.97 
			 City of York 6 325 54.16 
			 Doncaster 81 6,390 78.89

Litter: Fines

Brooks Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many fixed penalty fines for litter offences were issued by each local authority in England in  (a) 2007 and  (b) 2008.

Huw Irranca-Davies: Data on the number of fixed penalty notices issued for environmental offences by, or on behalf of, each local authority in England can be found on the DEFRA website. Figures for 2008 will be available later this year.
	The total number of fixed penalty fines issued for litter offences by local authorities in England from April 2006 to March 2007 was 43,624.

Litter: NGOs

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent discussions he has had with non-governmental organisations which have objectives to reduce littering;
	(2)  what recent representations he has received on levels of litter.

Huw Irranca-Davies: My noble Friend Lord Hunt of King's Heath, who leads on these issues, met last week with representatives of ENCAMS (also known as Keep Britain Tidy) DEFRA's delivery partner which campaigns on litter, and provides research and technical advice to Government. He addressed an audience of local authority officers and other land managers at the Cleaner, Safer, Greener Network Conference in Brighton last week where he launched the latest local environment quality survey of England.
	My noble Friend Lord Hunt has also met recently with representatives of the Campaign to Protect Rural England to discuss their 'Stop the Drop' campaign and their recent report on littering.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Minister of State for Farming and the Environment plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 3 February 2009, on a ban on the use of glue traps.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 20 March 2009
	I have on the 24 March 2009 responded to the hon. Member's letter about the use of glue traps.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, of 26 January 2009, on emergency response to flooding.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 23 March 2009
	A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 28 February 2009.

Performing Arts

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether his Department has engaged any  (a) actors,  (b) musicians and  (c) other performers to support its initiatives over the last five years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Department's record/financial systems are not able to identify this information within the disproportionate cost threshold.

Poultry: EC Law

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what steps his Department is taking to implement European Council Directive 99/74EC prohibiting the use of conventional cages for laying hens;
	(2)  what recent reports he has received of the timetable in EU member states for the implementation of European Council Directive 99/74/EC on the prohibition of conventional cages for laying hens.

Jane Kennedy: Directive 1999/74/EC of 19 July 1999 lays down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens, one of the provisions of which is a ban on conventional cages for laying hens by 1 January 2012. It was implemented in England by regulations made on 24 June 2002 and by similar legislation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. All Member states have implemented the directive. We have received no recent reports from other member states but the Commission's report of January 2008 recommended that the 2012 deadline for an EU-wide ban on the use of conventional cages be maintained and the Government remain committed to this deadline.

Rabbits

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of levels of rabbit damage in the last five years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: No assessments have been made of the levels of rabbit damage in the last five years. The last published estimate, in 2002, was around £115million of damage to agriculture in GB annually.

Recreation Spaces: Urban Areas

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which pieces of land have been registered as a town green under the Commons Act 2006.

Huw Irranca-Davies: This information is not held centrally or by DEFRA, but by each individual Commons Registration Authority.

Rural Development Programme

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what formal notifications and requests for revisions have been made in accordance with Articles 6-12 of Council Regulation 1974/2006 to amend the Rural Development Programme for England; and how many opportunities to notify the Commission of amendments remain in the programming period.

Huw Irranca-Davies: We have asked the European Commission to consider two amendments to the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) 2007-13 since it was approved in December 2007.
	The first notification of a proposal to amend the programme was made in October 2008, principally to put in place a number of changes to our agri-environment scheme, Environmental Stewardship (ES), recommended by the ES Review of Progress, which was published in May 2008. A second notification was made in February 2009 and was made to put in place the changes to provide support for the uplands, as announced by the Secretary of State in December 2008, make additional ES options available for farmers in the Isles of Scilly, and to update the programme's state aid provisions. Neither of these amendments has yet been approved by the Commission.
	The implementing rules (Commission Regulation (EC) No 1975/2006) allow us to propose up to four revisions to our programme in each calendar year until the programming period concludes at the end of 2013.

Tilbury Marshes

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the flora and fauna of Tilbury marshes; what assessment he has made of the scientific value of the marshes; and if he will make a statement.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 25 March 2009
	The Environment Agency has undertaken an inventory of habitat at Tilbury marshes using aerial photography as part of its Thames Estuary 2100 project. Tilbury marshes has the potential to enhance its existing freshwater habitat which could help compensate for loss of this type of habitat due to changes to flood defences in the Thames estuary.

Tilbury Marshes

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment has been made of the importance of the Tilbury marshes to the flood plain; and if he will make a statement.

Huw Irranca-Davies: holding answer 25 March 2009
	Freshwater flooding of Tilbury marshes has been recently assessed by the Environment Agency and 30 per cent. of the marshes have a 1 per cent. (one in 100) or greater chance of flooding each year. The area at risk of flooding is concentrated to the north of the marshes.

Tourism: Rural Areas

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he last met the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to discuss policy on tourism in rural areas.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not met with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport specifically to discuss policy on rural tourism. He is, however, working closely with a number of Cabinet colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on their policies affecting the one fifth of the population who live in rural areas.
	My hon. Friend the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism, has recently written to me endorsing the Government effort to support and promote rural businesses during the current economic downturn, and I am hoping to meet with her in the near future to discuss rural tourism and other matters of mutual interest.

Water: Meters

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many water meters were installed by water supply companies in houses in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency in each of the last three years.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The following table shows how many water meters have been installed by Thames Water (the company that supplies the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency) for the last three years, in existing and new properties.
	Water companies do not provide information to Ofwat broken down by constituency.
	
		
			  Meters installed by Thames Water 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 Number of meters installed in existing properties 23,631 47,204 34,519 
			 Number of meters installed in new properties 23,279 26,510 19,090 
			 Total number of meters installed 46,910 73,714 53,609

Wood

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what provision the European Commission's proposed Regulation on the obligations of operators who place timber and timber products on the market makes in respect of powers for member states  (a) to seize illegal timber that may enter the market and  (b) to penalise operators trading in such timber.

Huw Irranca-Davies: The Commission's proposal for a regulation—the 'due diligence regulation'—states that an operator which first places timber or timber products on the market must apply a system of due diligence to minimise the risk of placing illegal timber on the Community market.
	The nature of the penalties to be applied in respect of a breach of the regulation has not yet been established. Member states, not the European Community, have competence in relation to the conferral of powers on enforcement bodies and the setting of penalties, and no decision has yet been made by the UK Government on seizure of illegal timber which has entered the Community market, or on penalties for operators trading in such timber.
	We will be consulting on the UK negotiating position on the regulation and the European Parliament's amendments to the regulation in March 2009.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan: Detainees

Andrew Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 1741-42W, on Afghanistan: detainees, if he will now disclose the relevant information.

Bill Rammell: According to our records, the answer of 28 April 2003 was based on discussions with the US at the time regarding allegations about the detention of terrorist suspects on Diego Garcia. We were informed that terrorist suspects were not being detained on the island. This was confirmed at the political/military talks on Diego Garcia in June 2003.
	My officials will be in touch with the hon. Member to provide the relevant information.

Africa: Armed Conflict

Liam Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department has contributed to the Africa Programme of the Conflict Prevention Pool in each year since 2001.

Gillian Merron: From 2001 to 2007, the Government funded its conflict related programme activity through the Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) and Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP), owned and managed tri-departmentally by the Department for International Development (DfID), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD). By bringing together the Government's development, diplomatic, and defence interests and expertise, this ensured a coherent response to conflict prevention. In 2001, all three Departments contributed funds to form these pools (£2.1 million disbursed by the FCO; £14.4 million by the DfID and £3.2 million by the MOD), but in subsequent years funds have been allocated directly from the Treasury.
	The Conflict Prevention Pool (CPP) was set up in April 2008 as a successor to the former Global and Africa Conflict Prevention Pools, focussing activity through regional programmes where the UK can have its biggest impact, and through thematic programmes to deal with cross-cutting conflict prevention issues. The CPP commands a total of £112 million in 2008-09 of which the Africa Conflict Prevention Programme is forecast to spend £68 million. From FY 2001-02 to 2007-08, the Government have spent approximately £341 million through the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool. This is detailed by year in the following table:
	
		
			   Amount (£ million) 
			 2001-02 19.7 
			 2002-03 45.3 
			 2003-04 47.2 
			 2004-05 63.7 
			 2005-06 48.2 
			 2006-07 57 
			 2007-08 60

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2009,  Official Report, column 41W, on anti-Semitism, on what recent occasions  (a) he and  (b) other Ministers in his Department have condemned anti-Semitism; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Government condemn all acts of racism, anti-Semitism and religious intolerance. My hon. Friend, the Minister of State, (Bill Rammell) specifically re-iterated this in the House of Commons on 13 January 2009,  Official Report, column 132, and my noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown, the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, during the Gaza debate in the House of Lords on 6 February 2009,  Official Report, column 931.
	The London Declaration of the recent conference held by the Inter-parliamentary Coalition Combating anti-Semitism, co-hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, called on legislators to "expose, challenge and isolate political actors who engage in hate against Jews and target the state of Israel as a Jewish collectivity." It also calls on governments to "challenge any foreign leader, politician or public figure who denies, denigrates or trivializes the Holocaust and must encourage civil society to be vigilant to this phenomenon and to openly condemn it." My noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown addressed the conference and condemned anti-Semitism in unequivocal terms.

Binyam Mohamed

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government gave permission to the US to share UK intelligence with the Moroccan intelligence services in relation to  (a) the interrogation of Binyam Mohamed and  (b) other matters between 2001 and 2004; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: It is the long-standing policy of the Government not to comment on intelligence matters.
	The High Court's Judgment in the case of R (Binyam Mohamed) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 21 August 2008 said,
	"it is clear that the United States authorities have never informed either the SyS or any other part of the United Kingdom Government about BM's whereabouts in the period between 17 May 2002 and his transfer to Bagram in May 2004".

Binyam Mohamed

Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the Government shared UK intelligence relating to  (a) the interrogation of Binyam Mohamed and  (b) other intelligence matters directly with the Moroccan intelligence services between 2001 and 2004; and if he will make a statement.

David Miliband: It is the long-standing policy of the Government not to comment on intelligence matters. The High Court's Judgment in the case of R (Binyam Mohamed) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of 21 August 2008 said,
	"it is clear that the United States authorities have never informed either the SyS or any other part of the United Kingdom Government about BM's whereabouts in the period between 17 May 2002 and his transfer to Bagram in May 2004".

Chevening Scholarships

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much private sector funding for Chevening scholarships there was is 2008.

Caroline Flint: Private sector funding for Chevening scholarships in 2008-09 (financial year) is £3.8 million. There is also £2 million funding from higher education institutions.

Chevening Scholarships

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the cost of the Chevening scholarships scheme was in 2008.

Caroline Flint: The total cost of the Chevening scholarship scheme in 2008-09 (financial year) will be £27.5 million.

Chevening Scholarships

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Chevening  (a) scholarships and  (b) fellowships were awarded in 2008.

Caroline Flint: There were 977 Chevening scholars and 213 Chevening fellows in 2008-09.

Chevening Scholarships

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Chevening  (a) scholarships and  (b) fellowships have been awarded since the inception of the programme.

Caroline Flint: Since the Chevening programme started in 1984-85 we estimate that there have been about 32,000 scholars. Since the fellowship scheme was introduced in 2004-05 there have been 961 fellows.

Colombia: Females

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the level of violence against women in Colombia.

Gillian Merron: Successive UN reports, and those of civil society, have detailed violence against women, including sexual violence and displacement.
	Our embassy in Bogota held a round table meeting with Colombian women's organisations in October 2008 to learn more about their concerns and priorities.
	We have also recently supported a UN project to improve criminal prosecution of sexual crimes committed against women and girls; and a project on human rights education for women held in Colombia's women's prisons.

Colombia: Females

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received of the incidence of forced abortions for women guerrilla combatants in Colombia.

Gillian Merron: Successive UN reports have detailed the forced recruitment and crimes of sexual violence against women by illegal armed groups including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
	It is widely documented that women combatants have been forced to have abortions. We condemn these and other activities by illegal groups, such as the recruitment of child soldiers, hostage taking, drug trafficking and the use of land mines.

Cuba: Political Prisoners

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of political prisoners in Cuba.

Gillian Merron: We remain concerned about the number of political prisoners in Cuba. The Government of Cuba tightly control information about their prisons so it is hard to give an accurate figure. We follow estimates from a range of sources. The latest report, in February 2009, from the non-governmental Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation estimated 205 political prisoners. Amnesty International puts the figure at 57.
	The UK continues to raise concerns about political prisoners with the Cuban authorities, and did so most recently during Cuba's universal periodic review at the UN Human Rights Council in February 2009. The UK also recommended that Cuba allow international observers into the country to review the prisons.

Departmental Manpower

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many  (a) permanent , (b) agency and  (c) temporary staff on contracts of (i) up to three months, (ii) between three and six months, (iii) between six and 12 months and (iv) 12 months or more there are in each directorate of his Department.

Gillian Merron: Details of staff employment are published in the Departmental annual report, available online at
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/departmental-report/

Departmental Public Consultation

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what payments for  (a) polling and  (b) other services his Department has made to (i) Deborah Mattinson and (ii) Opinion Leader Research Limited since 31 December 2007; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has made no payments to either of these suppliers since 31 December 2007.

Departmental Public Expenditure

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 2 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 1237-8W, on departmental public expenditure, what estimate he has made of the additional amount in sterling required to meet the UK's commitments in respect of  (a) international subscriptions and  (b) peacekeeping activities in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10.

David Miliband: The information is as follows:
	 (a) International Subscriptions
	(i) 2008-09
	The forecast cost of the UK's international subscriptions in 2008-09 is £145.765 million (an updated figure from that quoted in my response of 2 March 2009,  Official Report, column 239W, of £142.73 million).
	For international subscriptions the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has a cost-sharing agreement with HM Treasury (HMT) where HMT will cover 60 per cent. of the additional funds required over £102 million. Therefore the cost to the FCO is £119.5 million, where the additional sterling required is £17.5 million.
	(ii) 2009-10
	The forecast cost of the UK's International Subscriptions in 2009-10 is £193 million (an updated figure from that quoted in my response of 2 March 2009,  Official Report, column 239W, of £146 million).
	Based on the agreement with HMT, the FCO's share of this cost is £138.36 million, where the additional sterling required is projected at £36.36 million. However, this figure will change depending on exchange rate movements.
	 (b) Peacekeeping
	(i) 2008-09
	The forecast cost of assessed peacekeeping costs paid in foreign currencies by the FCO in 2008-09 is £310.4 million. A detailed breakdown of this estimate is provided in response of 23 March 2009,  Official Report, column 26W. The additional amount in sterling required above budget will be offset by a transfer of £29.4 million from the FCO. This transfer includes gains from the benefits of the advanced purchase of foreign currency based on estimates at the time of the Spring Supplementary.
	(ii) 2009-10
	UN peacekeeping assessed costs for 2009-10—based on current UN Security Council mandates—will not be agreed by the UN General Assembly until June 2009. However, based on our assumptions of those and other assessed costs and the advanced purchase of foreign currency so far, we have budgeted for £456 million of payments from Department for International Development/Ministry of Defence/FCO conflict funds.

Departmental Publications

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the  (a) production and printing and  (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report.

Gillian Merron: The cost of producing the 2008-09 departmental report is not yet known as we are currently finalising the budget with our supplier. It will be published in June 2009.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office autumn performance report published in December 2008 cost £370 to produce.

Diplomatic Service: Security Guards

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what diplomatic protocols govern the possession of arms by foreign nationals assigned to provide security for their nationals whilst in the UK.

Gillian Merron: The operational responsibility for protecting foreign VIPs in Great Britain lies with the Metropolitan Police. Separate arrangements are in place for Northern Ireland.
	Requests received from foreign nationals to carry firearms whilst in Great Britain are referred to the Home Office who will consider the request, in the light of a risk assessment by the Metropolitan Police. If authority is granted, the foreign officers must work at all times under the direction of the Metropolitan Police when they are carrying their weapons.

Elections: Monitoring

Bruce George: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the British delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on proposals to reduce his Department's budget for election observation in 2009-10.

Caroline Flint: I refer my right hon. Friend to the written ministerial statement given on 25 March 2009 by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on the Government's plans for funding conflict prevention, peacekeeping and stabilisation activity,  Official Report, columns 17-19WS.
	We greatly value the election observation work of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and will continue to fund this activity on an ad hoc basis.

France: Antisemitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on levels of anti-Semitism in France; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) received reports of anti-Semitic incidents in France in January 2009, following the recent conflict in Gaza.
	The FCO will continue to monitor anti-Semitic activity in France and other countries.
	The Government are committed to tackling and reducing anti-Semitism. We have taken a number of measures to that effect, including supporting the victims of the Holocaust (including support for Holocaust memorial day) and, through our embassies overseas, supporting parliamentarians in other countries, in their efforts to tackle anti-Semitism in their home countries.

Gaza: Weapons

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions took place between members of the Quartet on proposals to stop the flow of weapons into Gaza  (a) before and  (b) after the appointment of Tony Blair as Envoy.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 2 February 2009
	The Quartet has discussed a wide range of Middle East Peace Process-related issues including smuggling before and after the appointment of the Quartet representative, the right hon. Tony Blair. The Quartet's public statements provide a summary of their discussions and are available online at:
	http://www.un.org/apps/news/docs.asp?Topic=Middle%20 East&Type=Quartet%20statement

International Organisations: Finance

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 50-52W, how much he expects to pay in subscriptions to each international organisation from his Department's budget in  (a) 2008-09,  (b) 2009-10 and  (c) 2010-11; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 16 March 2009
	The information is as follows:
	 Subscriptions to each international organisation in 2008-09
	The projected costs for 2008-09 are £145.765 million. This is an updated figure from that referred to in the answer of 27 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1199W-1200W.
	
		
			  (a) Subscriptions to each international organisation in 2008-09 
			  Subscription  £000 
			 UN regular budget and other UN contributions 73,699 
			 Council of Europe 23,938 
			 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 20,870 
			 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 15,250 
			 Commonwealth secretariat 4,343 
			 Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe 3,745 
			 Western European Union/others 3,920 
			 Total 145,765 
		
	
	 Subscriptions to each international organisation in 2009-10
	The projected costs for 2009-10 are £193 million but are uncertain. This is an updated figure from that referred to in the answer of 27 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 1199W-1200W. The fall in the value of the sterling will have an impact on subscriptions paid in US dollars and euros.
	 Subscriptions to each international organisation  in 2010- 11
	The projected costs for 2010-11 are around £163 million but, given the time scale, this figure is even less certain than that for 2009-10. Many international organisations will not start to set their budget for 2010 (calendar year) until the end of 2009 and for 2011 (calendar year) until the end of 2010. In negotiating with international organisations when they set their budgets, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will endeavour to limit budget increases to zero real growth.

Kosovo: Politics and Government

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what contribution the Government plan to make to the activities of EULEX in Kosovo.

Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement of 25 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 17-19WS, giving details of conflict prevention funding for the coming financial year.
	The allocation for Wider Europe has been set at £33 million, from which we will contribute £2.55 million to the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). This will fund 32 UK secondees in the mission, a reduction from the current figure of 63. In addition, through the UK's share of the overall Common Foreign and Security Policy budget we are contributing to the common costs for EULEX (€34.85 million or 17 per cent. of €205 million).
	We will continue to offer EULEX our full political support in the implementation of its mandate throughout Kosovo.

Middle East: Peace Negotiations

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with Senator George Mitchell on the Middle East Peace Process since his appointment as President Obama's Middle East envoy.

Bill Rammell: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last met Senator Mitchell during his visit to Washington on 18 March 2009. They discussed a range of issues related to the Middle East Peace Process. Including the importance of having a clear peace plan based on the Arab Peace Initiative.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary re-iterated the importance of keeping alive long-term vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in security, as an essential basis for regional stability.

NATO

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met the NATO Secretary-General to discuss the NATO-EU relations; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Effective EU-North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) relations are essential in order to deliver both capability development and effective operations on the ground. The importance of this co-operation is highlighted in the European Security Strategy and in NATO's Comprehensive Political Guidance.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary discussed EU-NATO relations with the NATO Secretary-General during their meeting in London on September 18, 2008. In addition, EU-NATO co-operation is regularly discussed at NATO Foreign Ministers' meetings, the last of which was on 5 March 2009. The December 2008 Foreign Ministers' Communiqué also made clear that NATO and the EU share common values and strategic interests, and will continue to work side by side.

Pakistan: Blasphemy

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the government of Pakistan on its application of the blasphemy law in the case of  (a) Hector Aleem, ( b) Basharat Masih,  (c) Shafique Anjum and  (d) Naveed Aziz.

Bill Rammell: We are aware of the detention of Mr. Aleem and Mr. Masih but have not made representations to the government of Pakistan on their behalf. Officials in our high commission in Islamabad have established that Pakistan's Ministry for Human Rights is already engaged on their cases. We will continue to monitor developments but cannot intervene while legal proceedings are in progress.
	We understand that the charges of blasphemy against Shafique Anjum and Naveed Aziz have been dropped following the intervention of a non-governmental organisation in Pakistan.

Ratko Mladic

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the likelihood of the early arrest of Ratko Mladic; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Our assessment is that the Serbian government is working actively to secure the arrest and transfer of the remaining International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indictees, including Ratko Mladic, to the Hague. We continue to urge the Serbian authorities to make every effort to ensure that the arrest and transfer of the remaining indictees take place as soon as possible.

Redundancy

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs with reference to the answer of 25 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 1208-10W, on redundancy, which posts were vacated by the staff who received severance packages of £100,000 and above; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Merron: holding answer 16 March 2009
	My answer of 25 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 1208-10W, detailed the total cost to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of funding each retirement package, not the value of packages received by staff themselves. The amount received by staff would have been considerably less than the total cost to the FCO of each package. Our resource accounts record all the costs charged to the FCO, including pension entitlements that staff would have received anyway from the Civil Service Pension Scheme and administrative charges picked up by the FCO. They do not record the actual extra sums received by staff for leaving early. We cannot therefore identify which posts were vacated by staff whose severance package falls within the terms of this question.
	As a result of our early retirement schemes, we have been able to reduce the size of our senior management grades by more than 20 per cent. and to restructure FCO Services, then an Executive agency, for successful launch in 2008 as a Trading Fund.
	The size and structure of early retirement packages are determined by the provisions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme and based on pension entitlements. The FCO does not have discretion to depart from these terms.

Roy Bennett

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made through  (a) the Commonwealth and  (b) the United Nations Security Council on the arrest and detention in Zimbabwe of Roy Bennett.

Gillian Merron: Roy Bennett, the Zimbabwean Deputy Agriculture Minister designate, was released on bail on 12 March 2009.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has made clear that the rule of law and improved respect for human rights, including the issue of politically motivated detentions, are conditions for the resumption of international development support to Zimbabwe.

Russia: Politics and Government

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent steps the Government have taken to monitor the political situation in Russia.

Caroline Flint: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office receives a regular stream of political analysis from its network of posts in Russia. In addition, the political situation is one of the issues discussed in regular contacts between Ministers and officials and the Russian Government. Earlier this month I met with my opposite number, deputy Foreign Minister Titov, and my noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown had meetings with a number of government ministers in Moscow including Foreign Minister Lavrov. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister will have discussions with President Medvedev during his visit to the UK for the London G20 Summit.

Somalia: Piracy

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had on the activities of pirates operating from Somalia.

Gillian Merron: We continue to work with our international partners to address the problem posed by pirates operating off the coast of Somalia. At a meeting of the UN Security Council in December 2008, attended by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, the UK supported the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1851, which recommended the establishment of an international Contact Group for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). The inaugural meeting of the CGPCS took place in New York in January 2009. This meeting led to the subsequent establishment of working groups tasked with considering four key issues:
	Working Group 1: Operational and information support and establishment of a counter-piracy co-ordination centre;
	Working Group 2: Judicial frameworks for arrest, prosecution and detention of pirates;
	Working Group 3: Strengthening commercial shipping self-awareness and self-defence;
	Working Group 4: Improving diplomatic and public information efforts.
	The UK agreed to lead on Working Group 1 and hosted (with the International Maritime Organisation) the first meeting of the group in London on 24-25 February 2009.

Sudan: Armed Conflict

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of deaths by violence in Darfur in 2008.

Gillian Merron: It is not possible to obtain regular mortality figures in Darfur, or to disaggregate figures by cause. The UN emergency relief co-ordinator, John Holmes, has suggested that the conflict in Darfur may have caused up to 300,000 deaths since 2003.

Sudan: Peacekeeping Operations

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many UN/African troops are in Darfur.

Gillian Merron: As of 2 March 2009, the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) had approximately 18,300 troops, police and civilians.

Sudan: War Crimes

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Chinese government on the issue by the International Criminal Court of an arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Bashir.

Gillian Merron: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary met the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on 1 February 2009. They discussed the situation in Darfur including the possibility of the International Criminal Court imminently issuing an arrest warrant for President Bashir for war crimes.
	My noble Friend Lord Malloch-Brown, the Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, discussed the issue with Chinese Assistant Minister for Africa, Zhai Jun, in Beijing on 20 February 2009.
	My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has recently written to Premier Wen expressing his concern over the humanitarian impact of the decision to expel thirteen international humanitarian non-governmental organisations. This is an issue we will continue to discuss with the Government of China.

Syrian Arab Republic

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times he has visited Syria on official business in the last three years; and what plans he has for further such visits.

Bill Rammell: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary visited Syria in November 2008, the first ministerial visit since Baroness Symons's in 2004.
	The Foreign Secretary has no immediate plans for a further visit. I will be visiting Syria shortly.

UN Resolutions: Sexual Offences

Mohammad Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department has taken to support the achievement of the objectives of the UN Resolution 1820 on Women and peace and security.

Gillian Merron: Since the passage of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1820 in June 2008, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has taken several positive steps toward supporting moves to implement the objectives of the UNSCR, including:
	Supporting the development and strengthening of the capacities of national institutions, in particular judicial and health systems and local civil society networks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan, in order to provide assistance to victims of sexual violence.
	Working to mainstream the provisions of UNSCR 1820 into the mandates of UN peacekeeping missions, such as UNSCR 1861 for Chad/Central African Republic, and highlighting the importance of gender considerations in the training that peacekeepers receive, including from UK supported training.
	Working for greater levels of representation of women in the mediation services provided by the UN and among deployed peacekeeping troop contingents.
	Highlighting the importance of conduct and discipline of peacekeepers in committees such as the C-34 Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Security Council, including the provision of UK funding to the UN Conduct and Discipline unit.
	We are looking forward to the UN Secretary-General's report on the implementation of this resolution on 30 June 2009 and the recommendations it contains. We will consider them carefully in relation to our own National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325.

Zimbabwe: Cholera

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe in 2008.

Gillian Merron: The World Health Organisation reports that as of 16 March 2009 there had been 91,265 cases and 4,030 deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began.

Zimbabwe: Entry Clearances

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Zimbabwean  (a) politicians,  (b) civil servants,  (c) judges and  (d) members of the armed forces are prohibited from entering the UK.

Gillian Merron: 173 politicians, civil servants, judges and members of the armed forces (including police, ZANU-PF politburo, governors and former ministers), and an additional 30 individuals and 40 companies are currently subject to EU sanctions. All supported the Government of Zimbabwe or its violence and human rights abuses prior to Morgan Tsvangirai's inauguration as Prime Minister. Under the terms of the sanctions they are banned from travelling to the UK.

Zimbabwe: Political Prisoners

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of the number of political prisoners in Zimbabwe.

Gillian Merron: As of 19 March 2009, there were at least 28 political prisoners currently held in custody in Zimbabwe. Another seven missing people who were abducted last year are suspected to be in state custody. As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said in a press statement on 11 February 2009, the release of all political detainees, and the rule of law more broadly, will be one of the conditions for sustained development support for the new government.
	The press statement is available for viewing online at:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest-news/?view=Press S&id=13462857

Zimbabwe: Politics and Government

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last had discussions with the South African Government on the Government of Zimbabwe.

Gillian Merron: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last discussed Zimbabwe with his South African counterpart, Mrs. Dlamini-Zuma, at a meeting in London on 6 March 2009.

Zimbabwe: Politics and Government

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he plans to hold discussions with the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on the political situation in that country.

Gillian Merron: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary continues to follow developments in Zimbabwe closely.
	He has no immediate plans to meet the Zimbabwean Prime Minister.

Zimbabwe: Politics and Government

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of extra-judicial executions in Zimbabwe in  (a) 2007 and  (b) 2008.

Gillian Merron: We are not aware of any extra-judicial executions having taken place in Zimbabwe in 2009. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum estimate there were three extra-judicial executions in Zimbabwe in 2007. At least 193 cases of politically motivated deaths occurred in 2008 since the March 2008 elections. We condemn the on-going disregard for the rule of law in Zimbabwe and call on the transitional Government to enact reform to protect the fundamental rights of its people.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children: Maintenance

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in how many and what proportion of child maintenance cases in Birkenhead constituency payments were made correctly and on time in the latest year for which figures are available.

Kitty Ussher: holding answer 19 March 2009
	The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have therefore asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
	.
	Information on the accuracy of individual payments made is not available. Information on the accuracy of maintenance assessments at a national level only is available and is regularly published in Table 17 of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics. The latest version of which is available in the House of Commons library or online at:
	http://www.childmaintenance.org/publications/statistics.html
	and shows that in the year ending December 2008, 83% of current scheme and 94% of old scheme assessments were accurate to the nearest penny.
	The Agency aims to make maintenance payments to parents with care within a week of receiving the money from the non-resident parent. The Agency only holds information relating to the 70% of maintenance cases in the Birkenhead constituency maintained on the CS2 computer system. Of the 15,600 recorded payments made to parents with care on the CS2 computer system in the year ending December 2008, 94% were sent to the parent with care within seven days of the payment arriving in the Agency's bank account.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Community Care Grants

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of time taken to  (a) process community care grant applications and  (b) review community care grant decisions is in each of the smallest geographic areas for which figures are available.

Kitty Ussher: holding answer 19 March 2009
	The information is in the following table.
	
		
			   Average actual clearance times for community care grants from 1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009  (working days) 
			  Jobcentre Plus Social Fund budget area  ( ordered by region )  Applications  First reviews 
			  East of England   
			 Essex 10.2 13.1 
			 Norwich Benefit Delivery Centre 12.1 46.8 
			
			  East Midlands   
			 East Midlands North 13.9 13.7 
			 South East Midlands 11.8 21.9 
			
			  London   
			 Central and East London 11.5 14.4 
			 London South 12.7 19.2 
			 North and North East London 12.5 28.1 
			 West London 11.5 21.6 
			
			  North East   
			 Northumbria 8.5 8.3 
			 South Tyne and Wear Valley 7.6 13.0 
			 Tees Valley 8.9 8.9 
			
			  North West   
			 Chorlton Benefit Delivery Centre 9.8 19.7 
			 Greater Liverpool and Cheshire 9.8 19.4 
			
			  Scotland   
			 Inverness Benefit Delivery Centre 9.3 18.6 
			 Springburn Benefit Delivery Centre 8.7 15.7 
			
			  South East   
			 Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey 22.8 28.6 
			 Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent and Sussex 24.2 27.6 
			
			  South West   
			 South West Central 8.4 29.3 
			  Wales   
			 Llanelli Benefit Delivery Centre 11.4 22.8 
			 South East Wales 12.2 18.9 
			
			  West Midlands   
			 West Midlands Social Fund 11.9 19.4 
			
			  Yorkshire and Humberside   
			 Bradford 13.9 21.3 
			 Sheffield 13.7 36.4 
			  Notes:  1. A first review is a review at Jobcentre Plus requested by an applicant.  2. The clearance time for an individual Community Care Grant application is measured in whole working days from the date the application is received to the date of the decision, inclusive. The minimum clearance time recorded for an individual application is one day, even if the application is cleared immediately. The same applies to requests for first review.  3. Numbers are based on applications cleared from 1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009, not on applications received during that time period. The same applies to requests for first review.  4. Information regarding reviews by the Independent Review Service is a matter for the Social Fund Commissioner.   Source:  DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.

Departmental Databases

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) records and  (b) data fields there are in (i) the Customer Management System, (ii) the Patient Modernisation Programme, (iii) the Pensions Transformation Programme, (iv) the Customer Information System, (v) the Tell Us Once system, (vi) the Income Support Computer and (vii) the Data Matching Service.

Jonathan R Shaw: The Department for Work and Pensions holds a large amount of data in order to process benefits and deliver the wide range of services for which it is responsible.
	Customer Management System: this system holds 480,000 customer records and 1,300 data fields.
	Patient Modernisation Programme: this is not a Department for Work and Pensions' computer system.
	Pensions Transformation Programme: this system holds 6.5 million cases and 15,500 data fields.
	Customer Information System: this system holds 92 million person related records and 9,800 data fields.
	Tell Us Once system: this system is currently in feasibility and testing within 14 local authority areas. It only collects the information that a customer is already required to report following a birth or a death. To date the service has collected and stored information from 8,440 people in up to 110 data fields depending on their circumstances.
	Income Support Computer system: 8 million cases of which 5 million are currently active and 700 data fields.
	Data Matching Service: this information is not available and to obtain the overall number of records of all types within this system would be at disproportionate cost.
	All counts provided have been rounded.

Departmental Detergents

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to ensure that no cleaning products or ingredients of cleaning products used by his Department have been tested on animals.

Jonathan R Shaw: The contractors that deliver cleaning services to DWP do not use cleaning products, or ingredients in cleaning products, that have been tested on animals and they have confirmed that this is their policy.

Departmental Lost Property

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether officials in his Department who have lost laptops that were the property of his Department in the last 12 months have been charged the full value of replacement.

Jonathan R Shaw: Laptops that are used by the Department are provided under contracted arrangements with a service provider. Departmental employees are not charged for the value of replacement when such items are lost.

Departmental Public Consultation

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many public consultations his Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was.

Jonathan R Shaw: The following table provides details of each consultation in my Department in the 12 months to the end of February 2009.
	Providing a full answer to the last two parts of the question could be done only at disproportionate cost. The number of responses to our consultations varies greatly. For example we received over 1,000 formal written submissions to our 'No one written off' consultation on welfare reform, but this represents only part of the picture, given that we received numerous responses in internet-based discussion forums, and a large amount of face-to-face input at a range of different events and meetings. In contrast, for our more specialist, and often more limited, consultations in the private pensions area, for example, typically 50-100 responses are received for each.
	On costs, the costs quoted for our four largest consultations during the last 12 months, are for services procured specifically to support these consultations—for example, professional production of documents, cost of consultation events, and research. In the case of our smaller consultations, these services are not used.
	
		
			  DWP Consultations in year ended February 2008 
			  Consultation  Consultation  p eriod  Weeks  Cost (£) 
			 The Pensions Regulator (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2009 15 December 2008 to 6 February 2009 7 (1)— 
			 The Occupational, Personal and Stakeholder Pensions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009 8 December 2008 to 30 January 2009 7 (1)— 
			 Financial Assistance Scheme and Incapacity Benefit (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2009 5 November 2008 to 3 December 2008 4 (1)— 
			 The Occupational Pension Schemes (Contracting-Out) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 2 September 2008 to 28 October 2008 8 (1)— 
			 No One Written Off: Reforming Welfare to Reward Responsibility 21 July 2008 to 22 October 2008 13 (2)268,000 
			 Pension Risk Sharing Consultation Paper 5 June 2008 to 28 August 2008 12 (1)— 
			 The Pension Sharing (Pension Credit Benefit) (Amendment) 29 May 2008 to 21 July 2008 8 (1)— 
			 The Pension Protection Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No 2) Regulations 2008 28 May 2008 to 5 June 2008 2 (1)— 
			 The powers of the Pensions Regulator-Amendments to the anti-avoidance measures in the Pensions Act 2004 25 April 2008 to 20 June 2008 8 (1)— 
			 Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008 27 March 2008 to 9 May 2008 6 (1)— 
			 Financial Assistance Scheme (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2008 6 March 2008 to 20 March 2008 3 (1)— 
			 Revision of the Annuity Factors employed by the Financial Assistance Scheme 6 March 2008 to 18 April 2008 6 (1)— 
			 Independent Living Strategy Consultation 3 March 2008 to 20 June 2008 17 (2)70,000 
			 The Pension Protection Fund (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008 19 December 2007 to 12 February 2008 8 (1)— 
			 Pensions: Contracting-Out - Self Invested Personal Pensions and Other Changes 10 December 2007 to 29 February 2008 12 (1)— 
			 Improving Specialist Disability Employment Services 3 December 2007 to 10 March 2008 14 (2)106,000 
			 (1) These consultations were undertaken at low cost as an integral part of the policy-making processes; it is therefore not possible to separate out specific consultation costs. (2) These figures represent specifically procured costs of the consultation, for example, producing consultation documents and organising consultation events.

Employment: Disabled

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Improving Disability Employment Advisory Service programme will be available to  (a) jobseeker's allowance claimants and  (b) employment and support allowance claimants.

Jonathan R Shaw: Yes, the new specialist disability employment programme will be available, on a voluntary basis, to eligible claimants of jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance.

Employment: Disabled

John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether those facing increased obligations under the employment and support allowance regime who are in need of specialist disability employment support will have a right to access the Improving Disability Employment Advisory Service programme whether or not they receive a referral via Pathways to Work.

Jonathan R Shaw: The new specialist disability employment programme will be available, on a voluntary basis, to eligible claimants of employment and support allowance whether or not they receive a referral via Pathways to Work.

Incapacity Benefit: Yorkshire and the Humber

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in  (a) Barnsley and  (b) Doncaster have claimed incapacity benefit in each year since 1997.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants in Doncaster and Barnsley local authorities in each year since 1997 
			  As at August each year  Barnsley  Doncaster 
			 1997 21,300 22,700 
			 1998 21,000 21,700 
			 1999 19,390 19,640 
			 2000 19,240 19,660 
			 2001 19,600 19,760 
			 2002 19,700 19,520 
			 2003 19,480 19,280 
			 2004 19,090 18,910 
			 2005 18,360 18,090 
			 2006 17,780 17,720 
			 2007 16,970 17,440 
			 2008 16,290 16,850 
			  Notes: 1. 100 per cent. figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 5 per cent. figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and have been uprated to be consistent with Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study data. 2. Data is published at: www.nomisweb.co.uk  Source: Data pre-1999: Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate, 5 per cent. sample and Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study data. Data post-1999: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate 100 per cent. Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people identified as unemployed in  (a) Hemel Hempstead and  (b) Hertfordshire have received assistance from his Department and its agencies with the cost of meeting mortgage interest repayments in the last six months.

Kitty Ussher: The information requested is not available.

Pathways to Work and Workstep

Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the comparative effectiveness of prime contractors on the Pathways to Work programme and Workstep.

Jonathan R Shaw: Provider-led pathways commenced in December 2007 and now operate in 60 per cent. of the country. Provider-led pathways operate under the Department for Work and Pensions standard prime contractor model.
	Workstep has been available nationally since 2001 but does not use the prime contractor model. The service is delivered through a network of providers from the range of private sector, voluntary organisations and local authorities. No comparison of the two models has therefore been undertaken for these two programmes.

Pension Credit: Greater London

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many pensioner households were in receipt of pension credit in each London local authority in  (a) 2003-04 and  (b) 2008-09; and what the average payment to (i) single pensioner households and (ii) pensioner couples was in each of those years.

Rosie Winterton: The information is in the following tables.
	
		
			  Table 1: Households in receipt of pension credit in each London local authority 
			  Local authority  November 2003  August 2008 
			 Barking and Dagenham 6,400 8,520 
			 Barnet 8,860 11,470 
			 Bexley 5,280 7,310 
			 Brent 9,660 12,440 
			 Bromley 6,950 9,100 
			 Camden 7,530 8,930 
			 City of London 140 170 
			 Croydon 8,880 11,360 
			 Ealing 9,290 12,280 
			 Enfield 9,420 11,780 
			 Greenwich 7,480 9,280 
			 Hackney 9,500 10,720 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 5,200 6,640 
			 Haringey 8,410 10,210 
			 Harrow 6,280 8,290 
			 Havering 6,710 9,460 
			 Hillingdon 5,970 8,130 
			 Hounslow 6,430 8,240 
			 Islington 7,800 9,510 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 4,670 5,940 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames 3,020 3,990 
			 Lambeth 9,000 11,390 
			 Lewisham 8,390 10,360 
			 Merton 4,510 5,720 
			 Newham 10,290 12,110 
			 Redbridge 7,320 9,800 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 3,370 4,450 
			 Southwark 9,100 11,370 
			 Sutton 4,450 5,770 
			 Tower Hamlets 10,490 10,950 
			 Waltham Forest 7,970 9,740 
			 Wandsworth 8,030 9,780 
			 Westminster, City of 6,720 8,240 
			
			 Total 233,480 293,470 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Average pension credit payment to single pensioner households and pensioner couples 
			   November  20 03  August 2008 
			  Local authority  Total  With partner  No partner  Total  With partner  No partner 
			 Barking and Dagenham 49.64 61.38 47.08 59.64 75.89 55.49 
			 Barnet 60.54 83.96 55.24 75.03 99.02 69.27 
			 Bexley 44.22 56.59 41.49 54.94 71.93 50.87 
			 Brent 70.02 89.40 64.90 82.02 101.25 76.95 
			 Bromley 44.16 56.77 41.91 56.43 69.54 53.75 
			 Camden 64.12 84.86 60.58 79.76 103.96 75.73 
			 City of London 62.75 72.67 61.63 77.46 80.69 77.08 
			 Croydon 52.79 68.91 49.25 67.33 86.76 62.80 
			 Ealing 67.77 87.90 62.69 80.99 103.81 75.10 
			 Enfield 56.54 74.71 51.11 71.08 89.70 65.26 
			 Greenwich 53.17 71.55 49.22 67.26 86.72 62.92 
			 Hackney 67.43 89.57 62.80 81.55 110.97 75.59 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 60.19 81.26 57.06 74.17 98.82 70.48 
			 Haringey 64.17 83.43 59.64 78.73 100.93 73.38 
			 Harrow 70.90 95.03 63.53 85.00 111.87 76.78 
			 Havering 42.30 50.61 40.53 51.78 62.40 48.96 
			 Hillingdon 54.06 72.74 49.78 65.60 88.61 59.91 
			 Hounslow 60.69 81.28 55.58 73.62 96.67 67.44 
			 Islington 63.98 82.53 60.37 75.79 95.11 72.09 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 64.91 86.63 61.95 80.88 104.93 77.11 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames 50.46 75.12 45.42 64.23 95.33 57.97 
			 Lambeth 61.29 80.93 58.06 73.11 91.61 70.20 
			 Lewisham 53.01 68.80 50.26 65.99 86.29 62.36 
			 Merton 52.36 69.91 48.33 65.64 84.98 60.74 
			 Newham 66.14 85.50 60.01 80.42 102.29 73.42 
			 Redbridge 58.95 78.54 53.50 73.88 95.51 67.17 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 48.01 65.41 45.29 61.87 83.61 58.32 
			 Southwark 57.99 76.80 54.58 71.83 91.90 68.23 
			 Sutton 44.65 59.24 42.02 56.83 73.21 53.55 
			 Tower Hamlets 67.85 90.57 59.22 82.80 109.02 74.67 
			 Waltham Forest 56.80 74.17 52.29 68.48 86.48 63.44 
			 Wandsworth 56.88 76.90 53.23 69.29 87.54 65.94 
			 Westminster, City of 67.21 93.05 62.57 83.28 112.91 78.11 
			
			 Average amount 59.04 78.60 54.63 72.11 93.32 67.19 
			  Notes: 1. The number of households in receipt are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 3. Average weekly payments are shown as pound per week and are rounded to the nearest penny. 4. Totals may not sum due to rounding.  Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Pension Credit: Overpayments

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Cardiff Central of 12 January 2009,  Official Report, column 41W, on pension credit: overpayments, how much was repaid through  (a) voluntary repayment,  (b) automatic deduction from benefit,  (c) county court judgement,  (d) the use of bailiffs,  (e) bankruptcy orders,  (f) repossession orders,  (g) private debt collection companies and  (h) another method of repayment in each month.

Kitty Ussher: The information requested in relation to the means of repayment is not available in all the categories requested.
	Action taken through the courts to recover overpayments of pension credit is limited as it is not our policy to take enforcement action through the courts where the customer is in receipt of a benefit or a pension.
	The only cases where such court action could arise is where recovery is sought from the estate of a deceased customer to recover an overpayment outstanding at death, or where an overpayment is identified after death following a check of probate records. Court action would only then be taken if it had not been possible to reach a voluntary arrangement.
	Likewise, our private sector partners are not generally used to seek recovery from customers of pension age.
	The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Pension credit overpayment recovery by method of payment: 2007-08 
			  £000 
			   Apr  May  Jun  July  Aug  Sep  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar 
			 Payments through banks(1) 1,614 1,764 1,673 1,651 1,733 1,899 2,488 1,918 1,666 1,820 1,838 1,661 
			 Deduction from benefit 522 514 520 585 521 490 580 498 571 509 517 494 
			 County Court 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 
			 Private Sector 0.4 0.9 0.6 0 0 0 0 (3)-2 0 0 0.1 0 
			 Other(2) 89 (3)-60 127 115 142 116 132 307 93 146 146 56 
		
	
	
		
			  2008-09( 4) 
			  £000 
			   Apr  May  Jun  Jul  Aug  Sep 
			 Payments through banks(1) 1,757 1,837 1,850 2,175 1,676 1,871 
			 Deduction from benefit 489 487 567 537 545 638 
			 County Court 2 0 0 0 0 0.1 
			 Private Sector 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Other(2) 186 68 129 174 85 196 
			 (1) Payment through banks includes cases where payment received via Direct debit, Standing order, Debit card, Transcash etc. (2) Other includes cash payments and offsets against arrears. (3) Negative figures represent totals following accounting adjustments. (4) 2008-09 data is indicative only.

Pensioners: Women

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent assessment he has made of the extent to which women's pension entitlement is affected by them taking time off work to care for children.

Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) on 26 November 2008,  Official Report, column 2036W.

Remploy: Manpower

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many employees there have been in Remploy sectors  (a) M1 and  (b) X in each year since 2000.

Jonathan R Shaw: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Remploy employees by sector 
			   X Sector( 1)  (Number of employees)  M1 Sector( 2)  (Number of employees)  Total number( 3)  of X Sector and M1 employees 
			 2000-01 97 216 313 
			 2001-02 190 157 347 
			 2002-03 211 159 370 
			 2003-04 231 193 424 
			 2004-05 225 230 455 
			 2005-06 228 222 450 
			 2006-07 209 240 449 
			 2007-08 189 309 498 
			 2008-09 189 289 478 
			 (1) X sector Remploy employees are senior managers and executive grades. (2) M1 sector Remploy employees are managers who are on the lower rung of the middle management ladder. (3) The number of managers in Remploy since 2000-01 reflects changes in the structure of the company over this period including the growth of Remploy Employment Services and the introduction of the five year modernisation plan announced in November 2007.  Source:  Remploy

Remploy: Pay

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been paid in bonuses to the  (a) senior management and  (b) directors of Remploy in each year since 2000.

Jonathan R Shaw: The bonus payments made are based on achievement of individual performance related targets. Future bonuses will be tied to critical success factors derived from the five year modernisation plan announced in November 2007. The increase in manager bonuses since 2005-06 reflects the significant growth of Remploy Employment Services, where the number of disabled people supported, into work including has trebled over the last three years.
	The available information is detailed in the following table.
	
		
			  Bonuses paid to Remploy senior management 
			  £ 
			   Managers  Directors/Executives  Total 
			 2000-01 269,068 34,861 303,929 
			 2001-02 324,903 54,776 379,679 
			 2002-03 259,631 (1)— 259,631 
			 2003-04 523,616 (1)— 523,616 
			 2004-05 404,154 29,245 433,399 
			 2005-06 1,163,467 (1)— 1,163,467 
			 2006-07 1,156,030 82,000 1,238,030 
			 2007-08 1,656,501 110,600 1,767,101 
			 ( 1) Nil  Source:  Remploy

Remploy: Pay

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether any bonuses were paid to senior Remploy staff in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: holding answer 6 March 2009
	Under the terms of the Remploy bonus scheme a total of £110,600 was paid to Remploy senior staff in 2007-08.

Social Security Benefits: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average total benefit received per household was in  (a) Castle Point and  (b) Essex in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: The information is not available.

Social Security Benefits: Families

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many families received benefits in excess of £15,000 in  (a) West Chelmsford,  (b) Essex and  (c) Greater London in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: Figures are only available for the number of families in Greater London as sample sizes are too small to yield reliable results below a regional level.
	It is estimated that the number of families in London which reported receiving benefits in excess of £15,000 per annum is 100,000 in each of the last five years. This represents less than 3 per cent. of all London families.
	Although £15,000 per annum of support from the state sounds like quite a large amount, it is not that unusual to achieve this level of support. To illustrate, take a stylized example of a couple with two children, where neither parent is in work, which live in a flat with £150 per week rent and a £20 per week council tax bill. They would be eligible to £15,445 per annum in benefits, including housing benefit and council tax benefit. Benefit income after housing costs would be £4,951 income support/jobseeker's allowance and £1,630 child benefit, totaling £6,581 per annum.
	 Notes
	1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.
	2. The Family Resources Survey is a nationally representative sample of approximately 26,000 households in the latest survey year.
	3. Data were collected between April and March for each survey year.
	4. The figures are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the FRS to Government office region populations by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error.
	5. A family refers to a benefit unit, which is defined as a single adult or a couple living as married and any dependent children. Same-sex partners (and cohabitees) are also included in the same benefit unit. Benefits are awarded on a benefit unit basis.
	6. Benefit receipt is based on self-assessment and therefore may be subject to misreporting.
	7. The benefit income is as reported for the survey year and has not been adjusted to account for inflation.
	8. Tax credits have not been included in benefit income.
	 Source
	Family Resources Survey 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07

Winter Fuel Payments: Tyne and Wear

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much he expects to pay to pensioner households in Houghton and Washington East constituency in winter fuel payments in 2008-09.

Rosie Winterton: Expenditure on winter fuel payments in the parliamentary constituency of Houghton and Washington East in 2006-07 was £2.9 million. Actual expenditure data are not yet available for 2008-09 and forecasts of benefit expenditure are not produced below national level.
	 Note:
	Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.
	 Source:
	Information directorate 100 per cent. data

Workstep

Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of  (a) contractors for Workstep and  (b) specific disability charities in securing sponsoring employers and mentoring-assisted employment placements for disabled people;
	(2)  what steps he has taken to ensure that contractors under the Workstep programme provide equal treatment for people with different categories of disability.

Jonathan R Shaw: All Department for Work and Pensions contracts, including Workstep, are managed using a standard contract management operating model involving review of performance, delivery and quality of service to customers. This includes monthly monitoring of performance, formal provider performance reviews and assessment of quality of provision. In addition, external inspection and validation ensures the quality and accuracy of Workstep providers.
	The Department for Work and Pensions assesses the effectiveness of all Workstep providers, including charitable organisations, by following the standard contract management processes. A performance improvement plan would be agreed with the provider if the terms of the contract were not being met.
	Workstep providers are required under the terms of Department for Work and Pensions contracts to cover all disabilities and health conditions and this is checked as part of the contract management arrangements. In addition, Workstep providers with a contract value over £50,000 are accredited by an external organisation on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. These accreditation checks include compliance with diversity and equal opportunities policies in respect of Jobcentre Plus customers and providers' staff, including non-discrimination on grounds of gender, ethnicity, disability, religion or belief. This also includes compliance with the requirement to make 'reasonable adjustments' within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act.

Workstep: Disabled

Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure equal treatment for the most vulnerable disabled jobseekers within the prime contractor models for Workstep.

Jonathan R Shaw: There is no prime contractor model for Workstep. As set out in the White Paper, "Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future", new specialist disability employment provision will be introduced in 2010. The new programme will be implemented using the principles set out in the Department for Work and Pensions Commissioning Strategy, including the prime contractor model.
	An equality impact assessment covering initiatives in the White Paper, including the new specialist disability employment provision, was published in December 2008. The equality impact assessment was published online at:
	www.dwp.gov.uk/raisingexpectations

TREASURY

Post Bank

Andrew Pelling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations his Department has received on the creation of a Post Bank.

Ian Pearson: My Department has recently received representations from hon. Members, the "Post Bank Coalition" and Toynbee Hall on the creation of a Post Bank. This is in addition to those representations made to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which is responsible for Post Office policy.

Jobcentre Plus

Joan Humble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Statement of 24 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 489-503, on the pre-Budget report, what recent estimate he has made of the funding available to Jobcentre Plus in 2009-10.

Angela Eagle: The pre-Budget report announced an additional £1.3 billion for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). This will ensure that the Government can continue to deliver effective support for the unemployed through Jobcentre Plus, and for those most at risk in the labour market. DWP will publish further details of planned Jobcentre Plus expenditure in May.

Icelandic Bank Accounts

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he next expects to meet the Financial Services Authority to discuss the freezing of Icelandic bank accounts in the UK.

Ian Pearson: No such meeting has been planned.

UK Economic Performance

Richard Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions his Department has had with the International Monetary Fund on the UK's economic performance.

Stephen Timms: The IMF holds bilateral discussions with each of its member countries, usually every year as part of its country surveillance function, under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement. IMF staff last visited London in May 2008 and met with various institutions including HM Treasury to discuss issues relating the to economy. The Government of course continue also to work closely with the IMF and other international partners in responding to the financial crisis.

UK Economic Performance

Gregory Barker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions his Department has had with the International Monetary Fund on the UK's economic performance.

Ian Pearson: The IMF holds bilateral discussions with each of its member countries, usually every year as part of its country surveillance function, under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement. IMF staff last visited London in May 2008 and met with various institutions including HM Treasury to discuss issues relating to the economy. The Government of course continue also to work closely with the IMF and other international partners in responding to the financial crisis.

Credit Provision

Hugo Swire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what further steps his Department plans to take to encourage banks to provide credit to businesses.

Stephen Timms: On 19 January, the Government announced measures to reinforce the stability of the financial system, to increase confidence and capacity to lend, and in turn to support the recovery of the economy. These build on measures announced on 8 October last year. Details are available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_05_09.htm.
	The Government are taking specific action to meet the needs of business. On 14 January 2009, the Government announced a package of support to address the cash flow, credit and capital needs of businesses, building on commitments in the 2008 pre-Budget report. Details are available at:
	http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/realhelp/finance
	The Government will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure the stability of the financial system, ensure lending to the economy, and support the recovery.

Electronic Games Industry

John Whittingdale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has had from representatives of the software industry on tax incentives for the electronic games industry.

Angela Eagle: Following the online petition to the No. 10 website in June 2008 on tax incentives to the electronic games industry, officials have met with representatives of the electronic games industry on a number of occasions to explore the barriers to growth faced by the video games industry.
	The Government remain committed to maintaining contact and discussion with the UK industry on a range of issues.

Sir Fred Goodwin

Andrew MacKay: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department had with representatives of the Royal Bank of Scotland in October 2008 on the pension arrangements for Sir Fred Goodwin.

Ian Pearson: I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the remarks made by my Noble Friend the Financial Services Secretary (Lord Myners) in another place on 2 March,  Official Report, columns 585-587.

Quantitative Easing

David Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects on the economy of quantitative easing measures taken by the Bank of England.

Ian Pearson: The Chancellor has authorised the independent Monetary Policy Committee to use the Asset Purchase Facility for monetary policy purposes. Asset purchases will increase the flow of money within the economy. The objectives of the Government's monetary policy framework remain unchanged. The MPC's operational target set by the Government remains at 2 per cent., as measured by the 12-month change in the Consumer Prices Index.

Wealth Inequality

Simon Hughes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of levels of wealth inequality in  (a) 1997 and  (b) 2007.

Stephen Timms: Inequality in wealth distribution can be measured by a statistic ranging from 0 to 100 called the Gini coefficient, where a large value indicates greater inequality than a low value. The Gini coefficient was estimated to be 69 for the year 1997. Figures are not yet available for 2007. A value of 67 was estimated for 2003, the most recent year for which a figure is available.

Wealth Inequality

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the change in the levels of wealth inequality between 1997 and the most recent period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: Inequality in wealth distribution can be measured by a statistic ranging from zero to 100 called the Gini coefficient, where a large value indicates greater inequality than a low value. The Gini coefficient was estimated to be 69 for the year 1997 and the corresponding estimate for 2003, the latest year for which figures are available, was 67.

Poverty Levels

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he had at the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting on the effect of the global economic downturn on levels of poverty.

Stephen Timms: At the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers, which I attended, we discussed a wide range of issues. To help mitigate the impact on the developing world, we agreed to ensure that all multilateral development banks have enough resources, and put them to best use, to help the world's poorest.
	We also agreed on the need for an urgent increase in IMF resources, to help developing countries cope with the reversal in international capital flows.

Forecast Growth

James Clappison: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent forecast is of UK economic growth in 2009-10.

Ian Pearson: The Government are taking action internationally, nationally and locally to help people and businesses affected by the global credit crunch. The Government will publish updated forecasts at the time of Budget 2009, as is normal practice. This will include a full assessment of developments and prospects for the world and UK economies, based on all relevant factors.

Bank Lending

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with banks on plans to increase lending.

Ian Pearson: The Government have regular discussions with the lending sector on a wide range of issues. As announced in the 2008 pre-Budget report, the Government have established a new lending panel, bringing together Government, industry and consumer groups to monitor lending to households and businesses.
	On 19 January 2009, the Government announced measures designed to reinforce the stability of the financial system, to increase confidence and capacity to lend, and in turn to support the recovery of the economy. These build on the measures announced on 8 October last year. Further information is available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_05_09.htm.
	The Government have negotiated quantified lending agreements with the banks participating in the asset protection scheme and extended credit guarantee scheme as announced in January this year. Details of the RBS and Lloyds Banking Group lending agreements are published on the Treasury website.

Bank Lending

Sally Keeble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to monitor levels of bank lending to businesses and homebuyers.

Ian Pearson: On 19 January 2009, the Government announced measures designed to reinforce the stability of the financial system, to increase confidence and capacity to lend, and in turn to support the recovery of the economy. These build on the measures announced on 8 October last year. Further information is available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_05_09.htm.
	The Government have negotiated quantified lending agreements with the banks participating in the Asset Protection Scheme and extended Credit Guarantee Scheme, as announced in January this year, to determine the amount of lending they will provide to homeowners and businesses. The Government will report to Parliament annually on the delivery of these agreements.
	As announced in the 2008 pre-Budget report, the Government have established a new Lending Panel, which will improve monitoring of lending to households and businesses. The remit of the panel is set out in the 2008 pre-Budget report.

Premium Car Industry

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will discuss with representatives of the premium car industry the effects of changes to their write-down allowances on their businesses.

Angela Eagle: Following two rounds of consultation, the Government intend that the rate at which businesses get tax relief for expenditure on cars will be determined by a car's carbon dioxide emissions and not its costs. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury has held general discussions with representatives of the car industry.

Banks: Ireland

Derek Conway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with his Irish counterpart on  (a) the level of protection for UK citizens with deposits in Irish banks and  (b) contingency plans in the event of failure of Irish banks.

Ian Pearson: Treasury Ministers and officials have discussions with a wide variety of organisations and international partners. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such discussions.

Departmental Buildings

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what  (a) grade II,  (b) grade II* and  (c) grade I listed buildings have been owned by his Department in each of the last three years.

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) on 1 May 2007,  Official Report, column 1613W.

Departmental Public Appointments

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which former  (a) hon. Members who left Parliament since 1997 and  (b) Members of the House of Lords from each party have been appointed to positions on public bodies within his Department's responsibility; and who made each appointment.

Angela Eagle: This information is not held centrally. Information on board membership and remuneration is published in individual bodies' annual reports and accounts.

Departmental Redundancy

Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many staff in his Department left under  (a) involuntary and  (b) voluntary staff exit schemes in each year since 2005-06; how many of them in each case were paid (i) up to £25,000, (ii) £25,001 to £50,000, (iii) £50,001 to £75,000, (iv) £75,001 to £100,000 and (v) over £100,000 in the year before they left; and how much (A) was spent in each of those years and (B) is planned to be spent on such schemes in (1) 2008-09 and (2) 2009-10 by (y) his Department and (z) each of his Department's agencies;
	(2)  how many of his Department's staff who left under  (a) an involuntary and  (b) a voluntary exit scheme in each year since 2005-06 received a severance package of (i) up to £25,000, (ii) £25,001 to £50,000, (iii) £50,001 to £75,000, (iv) £75,001 to £100,000 and (v) over £100,000; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle: Information on involuntary and voluntary staff exits, salaries in the year prior to departure and the value of packages by band could not be provided within the disproportionate cost threshold.
	The following table sets out the relevant exit costs since 2005-06 for the Treasury and its agencies.
	
		
			  £000 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 HM Treasury 973 1,140 2,079 
			 Debt Management Office 8 4 149 
			 Office of Government Commerce 1,030 3,358 10,387 
			 OGC.buyingsolutions 116 1,138 486 
		
	
	Details of spending plans for 2008-09 and 2009-10 are not available.

Departmental Training

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what training courses  (a) civil servants and  (b) Ministers in his Department have undertaken in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what training courses were available to  (a) civil servants and  (b) Ministers in his Department in the last 12 months.

Angela Eagle: The Treasury offers a range of internal training courses for officials to meet organisational priorities and which form part of the Professional Skills for Government (PSG) framework. Due to delegated team budgets for training spend it is not possible to report on all training courses that are undertaken by or made available to civil servants in the last 12 months; this information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	With regard to training undertaken by Treasury Ministers, I refer the hon. Member to the responses I provided to similar questions on 18 January,  Official Report, column 585W; 11 February,  Official Report, columns 2101-2102W; 5 March,  Official Report, column 1811W; and 25 March,  Official Report, columns 405-406W.

EU Budget

Michael Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the  (a) gross and  (b) net contribution made by the United Kingdom to the EU was in (i) the most recent year for which figures are available, (ii) 2004, (iii) 1999, (iv) 1994 and (v) 1989.

Ian Pearson: Details of the United Kingdom's gross, after taking account of the United Kingdom abatement, and net contributions to the EC Budget can be found in HM Treasury's annual European Community Finances White Paper. Table 3, page 51 of the 2008 White Paper (Cm 7462) of 10 September 2008, which is available in the House Library and also at the following website:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/international_issues/eu_information/int_eu_statefraud.cfm
	contains these data in respect of years 2002 to 2007, with an estimate for 2008. Data for earlier years can be found in the equivalent table of previous editions of the White Paper.

Financial Services: Crown Dependencies

Graham Brady: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 23 March 2009,  Official Report, on Spring European Council, what assessment he has made of British  (a) Crown dependencies' and  (b) overseas territories' compliance with OECD standards on financial transparency and money laundering.

Ian Pearson: HM Treasury considers the standard of the money laundering systems in the Crown dependencies and Gibraltar to be equivalent to European Union standards, as embodied in the third money laundering directive. Discussions are under way with the other overseas territories with major financial services sectors to assess the standards that they have achieved.
	In addition, the independent review into British offshore financial centres by Michael Foot is looking at the immediate and long-term challenges facing British offshore financial centres in the current economic climate, including financial supervision and transparency.

High Speed Two

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff of his Department are members of High Speed Two Ltd in each of the next five years.

Yvette Cooper: No Treasury staff are staff or board members of High Speed Two Ltd.

High Speed Two

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how regularly his Department receives  (a) information and  (b) updates from High Speed Two Ltd.

Yvette Cooper: High Speed Two Ltd has been asked by the Department for Transport to produce a report at the end of 2009. It is not expected that an interim report will be produced before that date.

Inheritance: Regulation

Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the Financial Services Authority's response to the Twelfth Report from the Treasury Committee, Session 2007-08, HC 1132, on inherited estates, what progress the Financial Services Authority has made in its review of the regulation of the inherited estates regime; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: The regulation of insurance companies' inherited estates is a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which sets the rules covering the management of with-profits funds. The FSA published a consultation on proposals for a specific reform of its inherited estate rules on 3 June 2008 and published a further consultation on revised proposals on 23 February 2009.

Members: Correspondence

Simon Burns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when a reply will be sent to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford's letter of 6 January 2009, PO Ref: 5/04009/2009, concerning his constituent, Mrs Rosemary Beenham, of Broomfield, Chelmsford.

Ian Pearson: A reply has been sent to the hon. Member.

Personal Savings: Interest Rates

Philip Dunne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the effects on savers of low interest rates.

Yvette Cooper: The Government recognise the importance of saving in providing people with independence throughout their lives, security if things go wrong and comfort in retirement.
	The Government have improved incentives to save by introducing the Child Trust Fund and Individual Savings Accounts. A person using their full ISA allowance to date has been able to amass up to £70,200 of tax-advantaged savings since 1999. The Saving Gateway will be introduced nationally in 2010 to promote saving among working age people on lower incomes. There are also a range of other initiatives to help people to save, including the introduction of Personal Accounts.

Private Finance Initiative

Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 3 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on Government infrastructure investment, what reduction in fees agreed with private sector companies for the delivery of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts will arise from the decision that certain PFI schemes are to receive Government loans in lieu of debt finance.

Yvette Cooper: It is intended that the Government will lend to PFI projects on commercial terms, alongside other commercial lenders and/or the European Investment Bank.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 3 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on Government infrastructure investment, whether underspent and unallocated funds from one Department may be used to fund another Department's private finance initiative infrastructure projects.

Yvette Cooper: Funding for lending to those PFI projects that cannot raise sufficient debt finance on acceptable terms will be provided from across Government, including initially from unallocated funds and departmental underspends on previous projects. The exact funding requirements will be determined by market conditions. Where necessary, the Treasury will provide additional resources funded from additional borrowing. An update will be provided at the Budget.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 3 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 47-48WS, on Government infrastructure investment, what his most recent estimate is of the amount of underspent and unallocated funds for each department available to provide additional finance for public infrastructure projects.

Yvette Cooper: Government Departments have set aside funding for a number of projects. An update will be provided at the Budget.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 3 March 2009,  Official Report, column 47WS, on Government infrastructure investment, whether the proposals will require state aid clearance at EU level.

Yvette Cooper: Article 87(1) of the EC treaty sets out criteria for a state aid to be present.
	The Government will lend to private finance initiative (PFI) projects on commercial terms, alongside other commercial lenders and/or the European Investment Bank.

Private Finance Initiative

Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taken to obtain EU state aid approval in respect of his proposals to provide debt finance to providers of private finance initiative projects.

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 13 March 2009,  Official Report, column 807W.

Private Finance Initiative

Gregory Barker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the availability of private finance initiative credits for energy infrastructure projects.

Yvette Cooper: PFI credits were assigned to Departments as part of the comprehensive spending review, and its predecessors, to support PFI projects in local authorities. None were made available for energy infrastructure as policy in this area is conducted at a national rather than a local level.

Public Expenditure

Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what capital expenditure projects have been brought forward under the Government's acceleration programme; and what the  (a) (i) original and (ii) current planned start dates and  (b) value of each project is.

Yvette Cooper: The projects to be supported by the Government's £3 billion capital spending fiscal stimulus are detailed in the pre-Budget report 2008. Much of the advanced spending is on bringing forward ongoing projects without a fixed start date. Where this is the case I have indicated the years in which the spending has been re-profiled between. Prior to the PBR announcement, some projects were still in the planning process and so had no confirmed original start date.
	In devolved areas it is for the devolved Administrations to decide how to spend any agreed re-profiled capital spending.
	
		
			   Fiscal year  
			  Department  Original start date  Current start date  Cost and description 
			 DFT  2009-10 £300 million for 200 new rail carriages. 
			  2011-12 2009-10 £100 million for the A46 upgrade. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £300 million for strategic road network upgrades. 
			 
			 DCLG 2010-11 2008-09 £130 million for Decent Homes programmes. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £120 million for Decent Homes programmes. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £150 million for social housing. 
			  2010-11 2008-09 £100 million for infrastructure and regeneration. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £100 million for regional development agencies. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £175 million for LA major repairs bids. 
			 
			 DCSF 2010-11 2009-10 £499 million allocated to 116 local authorities for their schools capital spending programmes. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £390 million allocated to directly to schools. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £30 million for play facilities. 
			 
			 DECC 2010-11 2009-10 £50 million for the Warm Front programme. 
			 
			 DEFRA 2010-11 2009-10 £20 million for flood defence advancement. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £5 million for waterways investment. 
			 
			 HO 2010-11 2009-10 £20 million to improve the National Police Improvement Agency and Serious and Organised Crime Agency estates. 
			 
			 DH n/a 2009-10 £100 million to upgrade GP surgeries to training practices. 
			 
			 DIUS 2010-11 2008-09 £5 million for Science and Research infrastructure 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £75 million for Science and Research infrastructure 
			  2010-11 2008-09 £52 million for Higher Education building projects. 
			  2010-11 2009-10 £200 million for Higher Education building projects. 
			  2010-11 2008-09 £110 million to Further Education and Skills to support the Building Colleges for the Future programme. 
		
	
	The relevant Departments will announce further details of this spending in the coming weeks.

Reoffenders: Finance

Alun Michael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Justice on methods of budgeting for services designed to reduce levels of reoffending.

Yvette Cooper: The Treasury is represented at the Inter-Ministerial Group on reducing reoffending and is therefore in regular contact with the Ministry of Justice on the subject. The Government's budgeting framework is set out in the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.

Smuggling: Tobacco

David Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was allocated to HM Revenue and Customs' work on tobacco smuggling in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Angela Eagle: The information requested is not available.
	However, HMRC does make retrospective estimates of the staff years used on tobacco work. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 March 2009,  Official Report, column 722W, in reply to his previous question on the subject.

Taxation: Business

Michael Spicer: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received from representatives of businesses on tax incentives for self-financed credit insurance schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: Treasury Ministers and officials receive representations from a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such representations.

VAT

Theresa May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2009,  Official Report, column 263W, on VAT, what the other groups are which account for the remaining 15 per cent. of savings to taxpayers.

Stephen Timms: The full breakdown relating to the answer of 10 March 2009,  Official Report, column 263W can be obtained from published data on the gross VAT Theoretical Tax Liability in table B.1 of Measuring Indirect Tax Gaps 2008
	www.hmrc.gov.uk/pbr2008/mtg-2450.pdf
	Shares of the components can be derived from comparing the components to the gross VAT Theoretical Tax Liability in that table.

BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND REGULATORY REFORM

Construction: Government Assistance

Paul Burstow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department is taking to maintain and protect  (a) skills and  (b) capability in the construction industry during the recession; and if he will make a statement.

Si�n Simon: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government are working closely with all sides of the construction industry to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn. Skill levels and training capability are protected through the continuing levy arrangements directed by the Construction Industry Training Board. Over the next three years the levy is anticipated to rise between 535 million to 545 million for training in the construction sector.
	In recent months we have also taken a number of specific measures. We have set up an Apprenticeship Task Force with employers and trade unions to see how we can expand and improve apprenticeships within construction. We have established an Apprentice Matching Service to find alternative training places for redundant apprentices. Construction was one of the first sectors to agree a Train to Gain compact, which offers additional flexibilities within the Train to Gain service for employers. In addition, through the last pre-Budget report we announced bringing forward 3 billion of capital spending for housing, education, transport and other construction projects.
	When Departments and agencies let a new contract there is now an expectation that successful contractors will provide training for apprentices.

Departmental Cleaning Services

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which contractors his Department uses to undertake cleaning duties; and what the hourly rates of pay are for cleaners working in his Department.

Patrick McFadden: GBM Services provide cleaning services to buildings on this Department's HQ estate. The current hourly rate of pay for their cleaners is 5.90p.

Departmental Consultants

John McDonnell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many consultants are employed by each bargaining unit of  (a) his Department,  (b) its agencies and  (c) its non-departmental public bodies; what work is being undertaken by each; and what the (i) length and (ii) value of each contract is.

Patrick McFadden: I have approached the chief executives of the Insolvency Service and Companies House agencies and they will respond to my hon. Friend directly.
	The information requested of the Department and its NDPBs is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	 Letter from Gareth Jones, dated 26 March 2009:
	I am responding on behalf of Companies House to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 20 February 2009, UIN 258507, to the Minister of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
	Companies House currently has no relevant consultancy contracts in place.
	 Letter from Stephen Speed, dated 26 March 2009:
	I refer to your question to ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, how many consultants are employed by each bargaining unit of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies; what work is being undertaken by each; and what the (i) length and (ii) value of each contract is.
	The Minister of State has asked me to reply on behalf of The Insolvency Service.
	PricewaterhouseCoopers have been employed for a period of 3 months (January 2009 - March 2009) to undertake an Equal Pay Review and Pay Review of The Insolvency Service's pay and reward system. The cost is 58,000.

Departmental Data Protection

Paul Holmes: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many members of staff in his Department have been  (a) investigated,  (b) suspended and  (c) dismissed for losing (i) memory sticks, (ii) laptop computers, (iii) desktop computers and (iv) mobile telephones belonging to his Department in each year since 1997.

Patrick McFadden: There have been five investigations into the circumstances in which the items in question were lost or stolen. No staff have been suspended or dismissed as a result.

Departmental Internet

Robert Wilson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will place in the Library a copy of each contract his Department has commissioned with external companies to deliver public services provided by his Department over high speed broadband internet connections.

Patrick McFadden: The Department has not commissioned or contracted with external companies to deliver high speed broadband for the provision of its public services.

Departmental Postal Services

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many and what percentage of letters sent by his Department were given to  (a) the Royal Mail and  (b) another postal services provider for delivery in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: During the 12-month period up to the end of January 2009, BERR sent 100 per cent. of its external UK letters (approximately 48,000 items) via Royal Mail from its central London buildings. These figures include mail from DIUS who share our building at Kingsgate House, Victoria Street. Information on items sent from BERR offices outside of central London is not available centrally.

Departmental Recruitment

Justine Greening: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 25 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 832-3W, on departmental recruitment, what estimate he has made of the annual salary cost of the new  (a) permanent,  (b) temporary and  (c) agency staff recruited in each year since 2005-06.

Patrick McFadden: Permanent new recruits are staff employed by the Department on a permanent civil service contract. Temporary new recruits are staff recruited on a short term or fixed term civil service contract.
	The annual salary cost of new permanent and temporary staff could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Agency staff are new recruits that have joined the Department but are not on a civil service contract and are employed by a third party. The arrangements for employing agency staff in the Department are delegated locally to line management units. To provide information on their salary costs could therefore be done only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Translation Services

Frank Field: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many language translators are employed in each of his Department's  (a) executive agencies and  (b) non-Ministerial departments; and what the cost of translating services provided by such people was in the latest period for which information is available.

Patrick McFadden: This Department's Executive agencies, Companies House and the Insolvency Service, do not employ language translators.
	This Department's non-ministerial departments are broken down as follows:
	Office of Fair Trading spent 12,167 on translation services in 2007-08.
	Postcomm, the postal services regulator, does not employ language translators, though as part of its duties under the Welsh Language Scheme it does maintain an arrangement with the Central Office of Information (COI) to provide translation services mainly in response to correspondence submitted in Welsh. These services are estimated to account for no more than 200 per year. In addition, in 2008, Postcomm published a Welsh language version of its annual report and the summary of its Post Office Network Report on its website at a total cost of around 3,500.
	Export Credits Guarantee Department does not employ any language translators.

Eco-towns: St Austell

Grant Shapps: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much the South West Regional Development Agency has allocated to the St. Austell eco-town development; and if he will make a statement.

Patrick McFadden: The South West Regional Development Agency has not allocated any funding to the proposed St. Austell eco-town development. The South West Regional Development Agency is working with local partners in St. Austell and the surrounding area who are developing a framework for investment in the local economy.

EU Internal Trade

Stephen Byers: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his Department's latest estimate is of the number of  (a) UK nationals employed in other EU member states and  (b) citizens of other EU member states employed in the UK under the terms of the EU Posted Workers Directive.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 9 February 2009
	 The latest figures on the number of EU workers who are employed under the terms of the Posted Workers are for 2006 and are not complete. They do not include postings from Spain to the UK, but the number of postings from the UK to all other EU countries includes postings from the UK to Spain. In addition, because these are the 2006 figures, which is before Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, there is no information for these countries.
	Based on this incomplete information, there are more UK workers posted under the posted workers directivearound 47,000 than other EU nationals posted to the UKaround 37,000.
	We also have other estimates on the numbers of people working in other countries from the OECD and Eurostat.
	The latest data from Eurostat shows that in 2007, around 3.4 per cent. of total UK employment was accounted for by nationals from the other EU-27 countries including 1.8 per cent. from the other EU-15 countries. This equates to just under 1 million EU-27 (excluding the UK) nationals and around 527,000 EU-15 (excluding the UK) nationals working in the UK.
	We do not have the 2007 data for the number of UK workers employed in the EU. However, according to the OECD analysis of the 2000 round of censuses, which are the latest figures available, around 581,000 UK born live in the EU-15 (excluding the UK), of which around 324,000 are employed. Total employment in the EU-15 (excluding the UK) was around 131 million, therefore around 0.2 per cent. of total EU-15 (excluding the UK) employment was accounted for by UK workers.
	The 2000 OECD work also showed that around 1.2 million EU-15 (excluding the UK) nationals live in the UK, of which around 602,000 are employed. Total employment in the UK was around 27 million, therefore around 2.3 per cent. of total UK employment was accounted for by nationals from the other EU-15 countries. According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for 2000which is on a slightly different basis(1)there were around 470,000 EU-15 (excluding the UK) nationals, 1.7 per cent. of the total.
	Since the OECD only reports data for its members and these do not include all of the EU member states, statistics for the EU-27 are unavailable.
	(1 )The LFS is a based on a sample, whereas the OECD is a census, in addition, the OECD defined its data according to foreign born, while the LFS data presented are defined by nationality.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when the Minister for Trade plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 25 November 2008 on the export of products to India.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 23 February 2009
	I responded to the hon. Member on 19 February 2009.

Public Holidays

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Government plans to establish any additional public holidays.

Patrick McFadden: The pattern of bank holidays is well established and accepted but we keep suggestions of additional holidays under consideration.

Radio Frequencies

Don Foster: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 
	(1)  when the programme making and special events sector was informed that it may not retain access to the ultra high frequency frequencies it currently uses; and whether a decision has been made on which ultra high frequency frequencies the sector may use in future;
	(2)  if he will ensure that existing programme making and special events users of ultra high frequency channels to be cleared of these services are provided with adequate replacement spectrum before the digital dividend auctions take place.

Patrick McFadden: The matters raised are the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Telecommunications: Licensing

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much his Department received from Ofcom in remitted licence fees in each of the last five years.

Patrick McFadden: holding answer 20 January 2009
	 Licence fees levied by the Office of Communications (Ofcom) arising from the issue or renewal of licences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts are remitted to this Department for payment to the Consolidated Fund. In each of the last five years Wireless Telegraphy receipts received were:
	
		
			
			 2003-04 20,025,235 
			 2004-05 140,367,674 
			 2005-06 165,492,000 
			 2006-07 170,443,000 
			 2007-08 173,607,000 
		
	
	In accordance with section 400 of the Communications Act 2003 statements prepared by Ofcom at the end of each financial year are laid before Parliament.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he expects to answer question 249140, on answers to parliamentary questions, tabled on 14 January 2009.

Patrick McFadden: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 March 2009,  Official Report, column reference 525W.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour: Fixed Penalties

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people aged  (a) between 10 and 14,  (b) between 15 and 19,  (c) between 20 and 30,  (d) between 31 and 50,  (e) between 51 and 64 and  (f) over 65 years who received a penalty notice and paid the resulting fine had personal information stored on the Police National Computer on the latest date for which figures are available.

Alan Campbell: This information is not held centrally.

British Nationality: Applications

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for British citizenship are  (a) being processed and  (b) awaiting processing, broken down by applicant country of origin.

Phil Woolas: The following table in provides an analysis of the current British citizenship application work in progress recorded on the UKBA computer system. This includes applications received on or before 7 March.
	Applications received after that date are awaiting input and UKBA is unable to report upon these data until it has captured the information on the application form electronically. Therefore the information requested in part  (b), could be obtained only by the detailed examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost.
	The information has been provided from local management information and is not a National Statistic. As such, it should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.
	
		
			  Nationality work in progress by country of birth 
			  Country of birth  Total 
			 Grand total 27,525 
			   
			 Pakistan 5,060 
			 Bangladesh 2,595 
			 Somalia 2,245 
			 Iraq 1,860 
			 United Kingdom 1,715 
			 Afghanistan 1,585 
			 India 1,005 
			 Turkey 675 
			 Sri Lanka 540 
			 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 530 
			 Philippines 485 
			 Zimbabwe 460 
			 Russian Federation 460 
			 Nigeria 425 
			 Algeria 385 
			 South Africa 360 
			 Congo Democratic Republic 315 
			 China 305 
			 Jamaica 275 
			 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 220 
			 Kosovo 210 
			 Angola 205 
			 Ghana 200 
			 Morocco 195 
			 Kenya 195 
			 Egypt 190 
			 Sierra Leone 180 
			 Yemen 175 
			 United States of America 155 
			 Rwanda 145 
			 Ethiopia 140 
			 Kosovo 140 
			 Albania 125 
			 Hong Kong 125 
			 Sudan 120 
			 Libya (Arab Republic) 120 
			 Republic of Serbia 120 
			 The Syrian Arab Republic 115 
			 Nepal 105 
			 Australia 100 
			 Saudi Arabia 100 
			 Uganda 100 
			 Eritrea 100 
			 Ukraine 95 
			 Bulgaria 95 
			 Thailand 95 
			 Kuwait 90 
			 Lebanon 80 
			 Colombia 70 
			 Tunisia 65 
			 United Arab Emirates 60 
			 Yugoslavia 55 
			 Zambia 55 
			 Burundi 55 
			 Canada 55 
			 Malaysia 55 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 55 
			 Democratic Republic of the Congo 50 
			 USSR 50 
			 Jordan 50 
			 Vietnam 50 
			 New Zealand 45 
			 United Rep of Tanzania 45 
			 Ecuador 45 
			 Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) 40 
			 Brazil 40 
			 Cameroon 40 
			 Palestinian Authority 40 
			 Gambia 40 
			 Unknownofficially designated 40 
			 Mauritius 40 
			 Romania 35 
			 France 35 
			 South Korea (Rep of Korea) 35 
			 Bahrain 35 
			 Congo 30 
			 Poland 30 
			 Croatia 30 
			 Germany 30 
			 Guyana 25 
			 Israel 25 
			 Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of) 25 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina 25 
			 Georgia 20 
			 Belarus 20 
			 Libya 20 
			 Portugal 20 
			 Italy 20 
			  20 
			 Malawi 20 
			 Cyprus 15 
			 Liberia 15 
			 Singapore 15 
			 Azerbaijan 15 
			 Greece 15 
			 Kazakhstan 15 
			 Spain 15 
			 St. Lucia 15 
			 Venezuela 15 
			 Ireland 15 
			 Myanmar 15 
			 Switzerland 15 
			 Peru 10 
			 Guinea 10 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 10 
			 Armenia 10 
			 Moldova, Republic of 10 
			 Mozambique 10 
			 Republic of Montenegro 10 
			 St Vincent and the Grenadines 10 
			 Togo 10 
			 Uzbekistan 10 
			 Barbados 10 
			 Lithuania 10 
			 Romania 10 
			 Taiwan (Republic of China) 10 
			 Argentina 10 
			 Cuba 10 
			 Estonia 10 
			 Netherlands 10 
			 Botswana 5 
			 Denmark 5 
			 Dominican Republic 5 
			 Grenada 5 
			 Hungary 5 
			 Indonesia 5 
			 Qatar 5 
			 Senegal 5 
			 Slovakia 5 
			 Japan 5 
			 Latvia 5 
			 Malta 5 
			 Mexico 5 
			 Belgium 5 
			 Chile 5 
			 Guinea-Bissau 5 
			 Mongolia 5 
			 Namibia 5 
			 Oman 5 
			 Bhutan 5 
			 Burma 5 
			 Chad 5 
			 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 5 
			 Fiji 5 
			 Guatemala 5 
			 Kyrgyzstan 5 
			 Panama 5 
			 Swaziland 5 
			 Sweden 5 
			 Anguilla (1) 
			 Antigua and Barbuda (1) 
			 Belize (1) 
			 Bolivia (1) 
			 Cambodia (1) 
			 Czech Republic (1) 
			 Equatorial Guinea (1) 
			 Finland (1) 
			 French Guiana (1) 
			 Luxembourg (1) 
			 Madagascar (1) 
			 Montenegro (1) 
			 Niger (1) 
			 Seychelles (1) 
			 St. Kitts and Nevis (1) 
			 Tonga (1) 
			 Turkmenistan (1) 
			 Awaiting country to be added to list (1) 
			 Benin (1) 
			 Bermuda (1) 
			 Brunei (1) 
			 Burkina Faso (1) 
			 Cambodia (Kampuchea) (1) 
			 Congo (Brazzaville) (1) 
			 Djibouti (1) 
			 Dominica (1) 
			 Gabon (1) 
			 Haiti (1) 
			 Honduras (1) 
			 Iceland (1) 
			 Lao People's Democratic Republic (1) 
			 Liechtenstein (1) 
			 Macao Special Administrative Region of China (1) 
			 Mali (1) 
			 Mauritania (1) 
			 New Caledonia (1) 
			 Norway (1) 
			 Palau (1) 
			 Rhodesia (1) 
			 Sao Tome and Principe (1) 
			 Solomon Islands (1) 
			 Soviet Union (USSR) (1) 
			 Suriname (1) 
			 (1) Negligible, i.e. two or less  Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest five.  Source: Local Management Information

Crime

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been arrested on suspicion of the offence of conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office in each of the last three years.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 16 December 2008
	 I refer the hon. Member to the reply of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice (Mr. Straw), to the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) on 15 December 2008,  Official Report, column 478W.

Damian Green

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to her contribution on 4 December 2008,  Official Report, column 151, consequent upon the Point of Order raised by the hon. Member for Ashford, if she will place in the Library a copy of the statement made by the Metropolitan police to which she referred; what discussions she has had with the Metropolitan police on the description of the alleged offence for which the hon. Member for Ashford was arrested; what explanation the Metropolitan police have offered for the discrepancy between her statement at column 135 and the contents of the warrant issued for the arrest of the hon. Member for Ashford; what communications she has made to the hon. Member for Ashford since her statement; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: h olding answer 10 December 2008
	 : I have placed in the Library a copy of the statement made by the Metropolitan police from which my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, was quoting when she referred to the alleged offence for which the hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) was arrested. In response to the hon. Member for Ashford's suggestion that my right hon. Friend's statement contained a factual inaccuracy my right hon. Friend sought clarification from Bob Quick, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan police. He confirmed that the press lines from which she quoted were correct and that it is not unusual for a person to be given the abridged form of an offence as an explanation for the grounds of arrest. My right hon. Friend shared this explanation with the hon. Member for Ashford and placed a copy of Assistant Commissioner Quick's letter in the House Library.

Damian Green

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to make the Metropolitan police's report on its investigation regarding the hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) available to all hon. Members.

Vernon Coaker: The publication of the report is a matter for the Metropolitan police.

Departmental Data Protection

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many civil servants in her Department have been  (a) investigated,  (b) suspended and  (c) dismissed for (i) losing and (ii) deliberately disclosing (A) data stored on departmental equipment and (B) confidential information in each year since 1997.

Phil Woolas: The information is not available in the form requested, but it is normal practice to investigate all significant losses and leaks of information and, if appropriate, to take disciplinary or other action against any individual found to have acted improperly or unlawfully.

Departmental Data Protection

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what scanning for vulnerabilities her Department conducts of each of its IT devices; what method is used for IT device scans; and how many vulnerabilities have been detected as a result of such scans in the last 12 months.

Phil Woolas: The Security Policy Framework, the Data Handling Report and the National Information Assurance Strategy produced by the Cabinet Office provide a strategic framework for protecting information that Government handle and put in place a set of mandatory measures which Departments must adhere to.
	It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of Department's IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will publish a list of the systematic leaks from her Department referred to in her statement of 4 December 2008,  Official Report, columns 134-36, as having led to her to approve referring the matter to the police; and whether any of the leaks listed concerned issues of national security.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 9 December 2008
	 I refer the hon. Member to the statement my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made on 4 December 2008,  Official Report, column 134WS.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many internal Home Office leak inquiries there have been in each of the last three years; and how many leakers were identified.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 9 December 2008
	 20 formal investigations into alleged unauthorised disclosures of information from the Home Office have taken place between 15 September 2005 and 15 September 2008. We do not release details of disciplinary actions following leak investigations, but as was explained to the Home Affairs Select Committee in their evidence session on 20 January, it was the failure to identify the source of these leaks which lead to the matter being referred to the police.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost has been of the investigation into the leaking of documents from her Department.

Vernon Coaker: The cost of the ongoing investigation into unauthorised disclosures is a matter for the Metropolitan police.

Departmental Disclosure of Information

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on which occasions since June 2007 her Department has recorded an unauthorised disclosure of information; whether a leak inquiry was established in each case; and whether any person was subsequently disciplined.

Phil Woolas: From June 2007 to 1 January 2009 there have been 12 investigations into alleged unauthorised disclosures. The outcome of those investigations has now been handed over to the police and is the subject of current investigations.

Departmental Electricity Generation

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what  (a) capital and  (b) maintenance expenditure her Department has incurred on standby diesel generators for back-up electricity supply of her Department's estate in each year since March 1997.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 25 March 2009
	My Department does not contract directly for the provision of standby diesel generators but procures building maintenance services through wider facilities management or operational service contractors.

Departmental Public Consultation

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many public consultations her Department has conducted in the last 12 months; how long each consultation was open for; how many responses were received in each case; and what the cost of conducting each consultation was.

Phil Woolas: Public consultation exercises run by the Home Office follow the Government's Code of Practice on Consultation which sets out the basic principles for conducting effective formal written consultations. As reported in the Home Office Departmental Report 2008 during 2007-08 we published 17 public consultations. Out of these, 15 met the minimum 12-week consultation period and two lasted longer than 12 weeks. The departmental report for 2009 which will be published in the near future will set out the position for consultations published in 2008-09. The costs of running consultation exercises are met from within existing departmental resources. It would not be possible retrospectively to separate out the costs which could be attributed to a consultation from the normal day-to-day departmental business. All public consultation documents that have been initiated by the Home Office and related response documents, which normally include details of the number of responses received, can be found at the following websites listed:
	www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/haveyoursay/
	http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/consultations/
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/ho-annual- report-08/

Departmental Temporary Employment

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department's policy is on the renewal of the contracts of  (a) temporary and  (b) agency staff.

Phil Woolas: Temporary and agency workers should be used only as a short-term solution to fill a particular need that cannot be met by permanent staff. Unless there are exceptional circumstances supported by a compelling business case, all temporary and agency staff should have their booking ended by the time they have worked for the Department for 11 months, or have accrued 11 months continuous service within the Home Office and other Government Departments. The policy to restrict to 11 months has been promulgated by the Cabinet Office and is now departmental policy.

Deportation

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many scheduled deportations were cancelled within  (a) one month and  (b) one week of the deportation date in 2008.

Phil Woolas: The system used by the UK Border Agency to record details of removal directions (RDs) records the date and reason for any cancellation. However, it is not possible to cross-reference the date for which the RDs were set with the date they were subsequently cancelled. The information requested could only be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records at disproportionate cost

Domestic Violence

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many  (a) women and  (b) teenage girls have reported being victims of domestic violence in (i) England and Wales, (ii) the North East, (iii) Tees Valley district and (iv) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in the last 12 months;
	(2)  how many  (a) men and  (b) teenage boys have reported being victims of domestic violence in (i) England and Wales, (ii) the North East, (iii) Tees Valley district and (iv) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in the last 12 months.

Alan Campbell: The information requested is not centrally available except that relating to adults aged 16 and over resident in England and Wales.
	From the information collected centrally on police recorded crime, it is not possible to identify the number of cases of domestic violence reported to the police. Such offences are not specifically defined by law and details of the individual circumstances of offences are not collected.
	However, the British Crime Survey (BCS), which includes crimes not reported to the police, routinely provides information on the number of incidents of domestic violence in England and Wales. Latest estimates from the 2007-08 BCS show that 288,000 incidents of domestic violence were committed against women and 52,000 incidents against men in England and Wales. The BCS sample is insufficient to provide robust estimates broken down by age or sex at regional or lower geographical levels. It should also be noted that the BCS estimates relate to adults aged 16 years and over and it is not possible to provide separate estimates for teenagers.
	It should be noted that BCS estimates are known to understate the true extent of domestic violence due to the fact that some respondents may be unwilling to reveal such experiences in the context of a face-to-face interview in their own homes.

Entry Clearances: Families

Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications were  (a) received and  (b) granted for family visit visas in each of the last six years.

Phil Woolas: The information requested is given in the following table. Reliable data for years prior to 2004 are not available from our global visa database.
	
		
			   Applications  Issued 
			 2004 354,413 248,268 
			 2005 457,571 331,143 
			 2006 502,197 376,415 
			 2007 473,553 354,083 
			 2008 414,159 312,524 
			  Notes: 1. Data are by calendar year. 2. This information is unpublished and should be treated as provisional.  Source: Central Reference System

Entry Clearances: Iraq

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place for processing visa applications from Iraqi nationals seeking to visit the UK.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 23 March 2009
	Currently Iraqi nationals can lodge all categories of visa application at several designated posts. These are currently Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), and Damascus (Syria). A limited visa application service is available in Baghdad for certain designated categories of applicant. This limited service was extended to Erbil on a trial basis commencing 9 March.
	The UK Border Agency, working closely with the FCO, continues to keep provision of visa services to Iraqi nationals under review taking into account ongoing security, logistical and financial considerations.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether international graduates will continue to be able to apply to stay in the UK for up to two years after graduation under post-study work arrangements for the academic year 2009-10.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 23 March 2009
	The Immigration Rules currently provide for those qualifying in the Tier 1 (Post Study) category to be granted leave to enter or remain for up to a maximum period of two years. This will continue to be the case when the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules laid before Parliament on 9 March come into force on 31 March.

House of Commons: Right of Search

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when an application was made to a magistrate for a search warrant to search the office of the hon. Member for Ashford within the parliamentary precincts; what response was made to that application; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: This is a matter for the Metropolitan police and the House authorities have placed in the Library of the House a letter from the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, giving his account of the circumstances in which the police entered the House of Commons.

House of Commons: Right of Search

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter to her of 3 December 2008 from Assistant Commissioner Robert Quick, from whom the police obtained the information which led them to understand that the Serjeant at Arms had obtained legal advice in the period between their meetings of 26 and 27 November with her.

Vernon Coaker: This is a matter for the Metropolitan police.

House of Commons: Right of Search

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will ask the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan police service to explain the reasons which underlay the decision to search the parliamentary office of the hon. Member for Ashford on a day on which the House was prorogued.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 9 December 2008
	 This is a matter for the Metropolitan police.

House of Commons: Right of Search

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what meetings she has attended with Mr. Speaker on the arrest of the hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) and the search of his office; what was discussed; if she will place in the Library a copy of records held by her Department of such meetings; and whether she has received a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 from the hon. Member for North Essex for this information.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 26 January 2009
	No such meetings occurred. The hon. Member's request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 has been received and he will receive a reply shortly.

Human Trafficking

Dominic Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether her Department plans to publish a report on the operation and outcomes of Operation Pentameter 2.

Alan Campbell: A report on Operation Pentameter 2 is being prepared by Gloucestershire constabulary, which led the operation. A summary version of this report, including results, will be made available in the spring.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 10 February regarding a constituent, ref: M2717/9.

Phil Woolas: holding answer 20 March 2009
	Lin Homer, Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency, replied on 20 March 2009.

Offences against Children: Internet

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent discussions she has had with social networking sites and internet service providers on the removal of profiles of paedophiles and sex offenders.

Alan Campbell: The Government take the issue of protecting children online very seriously, and we are considering ways in which we can, with industry, protect children from those who would seek to harm them. Discussions are ongoing with a number of stakeholders regarding the removal of sex offenders from social networking sites.

Police: Right of Search

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what requirements there are on police officers to produce search warrants when searching premises; in what circumstances they are not required to produce such warrants; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  who may give consent to the search of premises consequent to the arrest of the person who is in occupation or control of those premises under the provisions of the Code of Practice B issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: h olding answer 9 December 2008
	 Under PACE the police have the power to enter and search premises for evidence of an offence either on a warrant from a magistrate (for evidence of an indictable offence) or without a warrant. Powers of entry and search without warrant include the power to enter and search any premises:
	for the purpose of making an arrest for an indictable offence, a limited number of summary offences or other specified circumstances (section 17 of PACE).
	owned or occupied by a person who has been arrested for an indictable offence (section 18 of PACE).
	where a person arrested for an indictable offence was at the time of, or immediately before, their arrest (section 32 of PACE).
	Paragraph 5.1 of PACE Code of Practice B requires that if it is proposed to search premises with the consent of a person entitled to grant entry, the officer must make any necessary enquiries to be satisfied the person is in a position to give such consent. This may include the owner, landlord or occupier of the premises. PACE Code B also provides that in a lodging house or similar accommodation, every reasonable effort should be made to obtain the consent of the tenant, lodger or occupier.

Vetting

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the average estimated cost for the Criminal Records Bureau to complete a single check was in the latest period for which information is available;
	(2)  what target her Department has set for the length of time taken to process a Criminal Records Bureau disclosure application; and how long on average it took to process such an application in the most recent period for which figures are available;
	(3)  how many applications for Criminal Records Bureau checks were received in each year since 2002; and how many such checks were completed in each such year.

Shahid Malik: The total number of disclosures received and issued by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) is contained in the following table.
	
		
			   Disclosures received  Disclosures issued 
			 2002-03 1,651,134 1,437,094 
			 2003-04 2,358,627 2,284,688 
			 2004-05 2,532,451 2,430,937 
			 2005-06 2,860,296 2,770,265 
			 2006-07 3,252,640 3,277,957 
			 2007-08 3,408,595 3,323,251 
			 2008 (to January 2009) 3,262,826 3,263,000 
		
	
	In running the disclosure service, the CRB operates to a set of published service standards (PSS) which include issuing 90 per cent. of enhanced disclosures in four weeks and 90 per cent. of standard disclosures in 10 days.
	Data concerning the average time taken to complete a disclosure are not collated by the CRB. However, the Bureau has completed 88.2 per cent. of enhanced disclosures within 28 days in 2008-09 and at a unit cost of 26.18.

JUSTICE

Courts: Hertfordshire

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of providing the Crown court service in Hertfordshire was in each year since 1997.

Bridget Prentice: Prior to the formation of Her Majesty's Courts Service on 1 April 2005 the Crown court was administered by the Court Service and the detailed financial information relating to prior years is not held by HMCS. Obtaining the specific information relating to Hertfordshire would incur disproportionate cost as this would require a manual investigation of court records.
	HMCS accounting records reflect HMCS management structure. This does not necessarily reflect HMCS geographical or court structure. As a consequence it is not possible to identify accurately all costs attributable to specific courts.
	The costs of providing Crown court services in Hertfordshire for each of the last three years was:
	
		
			  Financial year   million 
			 2005-06 2.3 
			 2006-07 2.5 
			 2007-08 2.7 
		
	
	Costs included are the direct costs and cover salaries, staff expenses, accommodation expenses and depreciation.
	The costs of circuit and High Court judges are not held at court level and are not included. The costs also exclude area and central overhead costs as these are not allocated to court level.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on  (a) alcohol and  (b) food in each of the last five years.

Maria Eagle: All expenditure on food and drink is in line with the internal Finance Policy Manual and the Gifts and Hospitality Policy, which set out mandatory guidance for all staff regarding the use of public funds. Both are consistent with the Treasury guidance on Managing Public Money, and the Treasury handbook on Propriety and Regularity.
	The Ministry's policy on the provision of alcohol prohibits the supply of any alcohol paid from departmental funds for in-house hospitality. For external hospitality the guidance states:
	When providing hospitality to external parties, then discretion can be exercised, e.g. a modest amount of alcohol with a meal.
	There is no departmental requirement to separately monitor expenditure on alcohol and food. No separate account codes for these expenditure types are maintained, and to extract this information could be completed only at disproportionate cost.
	Since April 2007 a record has been kept of the cost of receptions and formal dinners hosted by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. This record indicates that in the financial year 2007-08 spending in these matters was 42,452. The total spending to January 2009 in 2008-09 financial year is 68.331. The majority of this spending is for the Lord Chancellor's Breakfast, hosted for the judiciary and foreign dignitaries on the occasion of the opening of the legal year.

Lancaster Farms Young Offender Institution

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what additional funding he has allocated for improvements to Young Offender Institute Lancaster Farms following the transfer of its juvenile population.

David Hanson: 270,000 was allocated to fund additional fencing. The additional fencing has provided exercise yards and has enabled fewer restrictions upon the allocation of some young adults to purposeful activity working within farms and gardens.

Land Registry

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many internal grievances in the Land Registry led to an employment tribunal in each of the last two financial years; what the reasons for each such case were in each year; how many such cases were settled before a tribunal hearing in each such year; what the cost of out-of-court settlements was in each year; what the cost of fees for  (a) solicitors and  (b) barristers for cases taken to tribunal was in each year; and what the cost of awards made against the Land Registry at tribunal was in each year.

Michael Wills: 11 grievances led to an employment tribunal in 2007-08. 14 grievances led to an employment tribunal in 2008-09. The reason for each case in each year is as detailed in the following tables:
	
		
			  2007-08 
			  Claim  Reason for claim 
			 Claim 1 Disability discrimination 
			 Claim 2 Unfair dismissal and age discrimination 
			 Claim 3 Unfair dismissal and age discrimination 
			 Claim 4 Discrimination on basis of Trade Union membership 
			 Claim 5 Discrimination on basis of Trade Union membership 
			 Claim 6 Unfair dismissal and age discrimination 
			 Claim 7 Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation 
			 Claim 8 Unfair dismissal and age and sex discrimination 
			 Claim 9 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) 
			 Claim 10 Unfair dismissal and age and sex discrimination 
			 Claim 11 Unfair dismissal and disability discrimination 
		
	
	
		
			  2008-09 
			  Claim  Reason for claim 
			 Claim 1 Disability discrimination 
			 Claim 2 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) and disability discrimination 
			 Claim 3 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) 
			 Claim 4 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) 
			 Claim 5 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) 
			 Claim 6 Unfair dismissal (fixed term employee) 
			 Claim 7 Unfair dismissal (casual employee) 
			 Claim 8 Unpaid leave entitlement on termination of employment 
			 Claim 9 Unauthorised deduction from wages 
			 Claim 10 Constructive dismissal and disability discrimination 
			 Claim 11 Unfair dismissal and age and sex discrimination 
			 Claim 12 Annual leave accrual during additional maternity leave 
			 Claim 13 Disability discrimination 
			 Claim 14 Unfair dismissal and age and sex discrimination 
		
	
	One case was settled before hearing at tribunal in 2007-08. No cases were settled before hearing at tribunal and four were withdrawn by the complainant in 2008-09.
	The cost of out-of-court settlement in 2007-08 was 1,400. There were no out-of-court settlements in 2008-09.
	The cost of solicitors' fees in 2007-08 was 17,673.78. The cost of barristers' fees in that year was 3,073.40.
	The cost of solicitors' fees in 2008-09 was 76,902.98. The cost of barristers' fees in that year was 29,934.70.
	There were no costs awarded against Land Registry in 2007-08. The costs awarded against Land Registry in 2008-09 were 1,250.
	All 2008-09 figures are as of 24 March 2009.

Magistrates Courts: Hertfordshire

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the provision of the magistrates court service in  (a) Hemel Hempstead and  (b) Hertfordshire cost in each year since 1997.

Bridget Prentice: Prior to the formation of Her Majesty's Courts Service on 1 April 2005 magistrates courts were the responsibility of individual magistrates courts committees. Consequently, HMCS does not hold records relating to magistrates courts prior to 1 April 2005.
	The directly attributable costs of providing magistrates court services at Hemel Hempstead for each of the last three years was:
	
		
			  Financial year   million 
			 2005-06 0.23 
			 2006-07 0.34 
			 2007-08 0.27 
		
	
	Costs included are the direct costs for the magistrates courts at Hemel Hempstead including: staff expenses, accommodation expenses, lay magistrates allowances and depreciation.
	Area, regional and central overhead costs are not allocated to court level. Consequently, the costs above do not include cost allocations relating to area or central management.
	The costs of district judges are not recorded at court level and have not been included.
	The directly attributable costs of providing magistrates court services in Hertfordshire for each of the last three years was:
	
		
			  Financial Year   million 
			 2005-06 4.4 
			 2006-07 4.9 
			 2007-08 4.5 
		
	
	Costs included are the direct costs for the magistrates courts in Hertfordshire including: staff expenses, accommodation expenses, lay magistrates allowances and depreciation.
	Area, regional and central overhead costs are not allocated to court level. Consequently, the costs above do not include cost allocations relating to area or central management.
	The costs of district judges are not recorded at court level and have not been included.

Pleural Plaques: Compensation

Frank Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the Government plan to announce a decision on compensation for those adversely affected by pleural plaques.

Bridget Prentice: The consultation on pleural plaques closed on 1 October 2008 and has generated a large number of responses. We are carefully analysing all the submissions received, many of which are detailed and complex, and will seek to publish a response paper outlining the way forward as soon as possible.

Victim Support Schemes: Finance

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was in the Victims Fund in each of the last five years; and what its sources of income are.

Maria Eagle: The following table details the level of funding invested in the Victims Fund over the last five years.
	The sources of income include asset recovery funds, central Government funds and the Victims Surcharge Fund.
	
		
			million (Resources) 
			 2004-05 1 
			 2005-06 3 
			 2006-07 1.25 
			 2007-08 1.75 
			 2008-09 1.75

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Departmental Pay

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has allocated for staff bonuses in 2008-09.

Ivan Lewis: The Department for International Development's (DFID) reward arrangements do not allow for the payment of any performance-related awards in the 2008-09 financial year to staff below the senior civil service (SCS).
	DFID's total SCS consolidated pay bill was 7.45 million at 31 March 2008. In line with the SSRB's recommendations, an additional 8.6 per cent. (0.64 million) was allocated for non-consolidated performance awards for payment in the current financial year. The median award made was 6,350.
	Awards are intended to reward delivery of personal business objectives during the reporting year or other short-term personal contributions to wider organisational objectives. In considering SCS members for an award, line managers are asked to take into account:
	performance against agreed priority business objectives or targets;
	total delivery record over the year;
	relative stretch (ie the challenge of the job compared to that of others); and
	response to unforeseen events that affected the performance agreement.
	Awards are funded within existing pay bill controls, have to be re-earned each year against the pre-determined criteria above and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs.
	The annual size of the non-consolidated performance pay pot is based on recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).

Departmental Pay

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what guidance his Department has issued on the payment of per diem expenses to people who are not employees of the Department for attendance at  (a) meetings,  (b) workshops,  (c) conferences and  (d) other events; what guidance has been issued on the rates payable to such people in developing countries; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: Where the Department for International Development (DFID) considers the payment of per diem expenses to be appropriate, our general aim is to provide event participants with a level of expenses consistent with DFID employees in comparable situations. As each event will have different requirements in relation to the location, venue, facilities and duration, DFID determines the appropriate per diem rate and guidance on a case-by-case basis.

Departmental Recruitment

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to the answer of 29 October 2008,  Official Report, column 1162W, on departmental recruitment, how many additional  (a) generalist and  (b) technical civil servants were recruited between mid-October 2008 and the end of 2008; and how many serving generalist civil servants recruited to the fast stream between 2003 and 2008 were recruited (i) through the in-service stream and (ii) from other Government Departments.

Ivan Lewis: The Department for International Development (DFID) recruited 69 civil servants between mid-October 2008 and the end of 2008. 35 of these were specialist or technical staff and 34 were generalist staff.
	Between 2003 and 2008, DFID recruited eight people on to the fast stream through the in-service nomination scheme and 12 on to the fast stream from positions in other Government Departments.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Mohammad Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what support his Department is providing for non-governmental organisations and charities working to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) has pledged 46.8 million to help meet immediate needs and support recovery efforts in Gaza.
	To date, 16.3 million of this has been committed as follows:
	
		
			  Organisation  Detail  Commitment () 
			 UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Gaza Flash Appeal Food and cash assistance to those in need and shelter assistance for the displaced. Fuel to maintain essential public services. 4,000,000 
			 UN's Humanitarian Emergency Response Fund This will enable the UN's local Humanitarian Co-ordinator to quickly allocate funds to emerging priorities, making them available to NGOs and other organisations with staff on the ground, to meet immediate humanitarian needs. 1,000,000 
			 International Committee for the Red Cross Relief Assistance (food and non-food items); health and protection activities. 4,000,000 
			 Mines Advisory Group Assess, survey and clear the danger of unexploded ordnance in Gaza. 197,973 
			 United Nations Contribution and airlift of three armoured cars to facilitate safe assessments and relief delivery by UN agencies as quickly as possible. 500,000 
			 Oxfam Immediate water and sanitation needs of vulnerable communities in Gaza. 600,000 
			 Mercy Corps Emergency shelter, non-food items and psycho-social support to conflict-affected children, youth and families in Gaza. 913,279 
			 Handicap International Emergency medical response for the extremely vulnerable including people with injuries, people with disabilities and the elderly. 421,943 
			 Action Against Hunger Improve access to water through emergency rehabilitation of water infrastructure and raise awareness of good hygiene practice. 400,000 
			 Welfare Association Expand comprehensive community-based health rehabilitation services for disabled people and their families in areas of high need. 300,000 
			 OCHA Support for an information officer to work in OCHA for three months. 70,000 
			 Islamic Relief Non-food items, psycho-social support, house repair, emergency school rehabilitation. 660,618 
			 UNICEF For information management and co-ordination of emergency water and sanitation sector response. 340,000 
			 World Food Programme Provision of food aid and co-ordination of relief items brought into Gaza by the UN and NGOs. 2,500,000 
			 UN Mines Action Services For the clearance and disposal of unexploded ordnance to enable reconstruction and redevelopment to take place. 443,000 
			 Total committed to date  16,346,813 
		
	
	This table is available on the DFID website and is updated when further allocations are made.

Palestinians: Overseas Aid

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 4 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1656W, on Palestinians: overseas aid, what measures are in place to ensure that his Department's humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza will not be channelled to Hamas.

Douglas Alexander: I refer my hon. Friend to the answers given to my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 25 March 2009,  Official Report, column 291.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Michael Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent steps he has taken to ensure that humanitarian and reconstruction aid provided by his Department is delivered in Gaza without delay owing to the application of political conditions to the provision of such assistance.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the right hon. Member to the answers given to my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) and my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 25 March 2009,  Official Report, column 291.

Uganda

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department paid in per diem expenses to persons in Uganda who were not employees of the Department to attend  (a) meetings,  (b) workshops,  (c) conferences and  (d) other events in 2007-08.

Ivan Lewis: In Uganda, the Department for International Development (DFID) does not directly pay per diem expenses to non-DFID employees. Included in our programmes and budgets is provision for training events, workshops and other events which are managed by our implementing partners.

CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES

Cambridge University: Admissions

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of secondary schools in England which have not had a student accepted for a place at  (a) Cambridge university and  (b) Oxford university in the last 30 years.

David Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
	Detailed UCAS data on applications via secondary schools are only available from 2001. The figures cover schools classed by UCAS as comprehensive, grammar, other maintained and other secondary schools in England. Only centres who have had pupils apply to university via the UCAS system have been included. Figures include centres who have had applicants to Oxford and Cambridge, and those who have had no applications to these two universities.
	There were 1,919 centres whose applicants applied through the UCAS system, which did not have any applicants accepted on to courses at Cambridge in any year between 2001 and 2008 inclusive. In the same time period, 1,990 centres whose applicants applied through the UCAS system did not have any applicants accepted on to courses at Oxford in any of the years.
	 Source:
	UCAS

Children: Protection

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  what the period is of Sir Roger Singleton's appointment as chief adviser on the safety of children; what remit he has been given; and what remuneration he will receive in this capacity;
	(2)  whether the chief adviser on the safety of children will be permitted to read serious case review reports;
	(3)  who will appoint the next chief adviser on the safety of children.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 19 March 2009
	Sir Roger Singleton's remit as chief adviser on the safety of children was set out in a letter from the Secretary of State to Sir Roger on 12 March. This letter was placed in the House Libraries on the same day. The details of his activities, including in relation to serious case reviews, will be developed over the next few months. The period of Sir Roger's appointment to this role is three years. Decisions about any future appointments of a chief adviser on the safety of children will be made in due course.
	Sir Roger will be carrying out this role on a part-time basis and will be remunerated at a rate consistent with that normally provided for public advisory roles.

Schools: Standards

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will bring forward legislative proposals to require minimum standards in respect of provision for  (a) the supply of drinking water and  (b) toilets in schools.

Jim Knight: The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 already specify minimum standards in respect of the quality of drinking water and the numbers of toilets. There are no plans to bring forward any further legislation on these matters.

Social Workers

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families 
	(1)  how many people have graduated from the new social worker degree since its creation;
	(2)  how many people have started the new social worker degree since its creation;
	(3)  how many graduates of the new social worker degree remain in post as social workers;
	(4)  how many graduates of the new social worker degree have become social workers since its creation.

Beverley Hughes: The General Social Care Council registers both social work students and practising social workers.
	As of 16 March 2009, the General Social Care Council has recorded 28,120 people as having enrolled on the social work degree since its creation in 2003 and 10,353 people as having passed the social work degree.
	The number of social work degree graduates now practising as social workers is not recorded by the General Social Care Council; however, as of 16 March 2009, 9,007 qualified social workers who have graduated from the social work degree are registered with them.

Special Educational Needs

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of mainstream schools in each local authority area had more than  (a) 5 per cent. and  (b) 10 per cent. of pupils with statements of special educational need in 2008.

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information, for those local authorities with schools with more than 5 per cent. and more than 10 per cent. of pupils with statements, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Nursery, primary and secondary schools( 1, 2) : number and percentage of schools with pupils with special ed ucational needs with statements( 3) , position in January 2008, by local authority area 
			LA maintained nursery and primary schools and state-funded secondary schools with more than 5 per cent .  of pupils with statements  LA maintained nursery and primary schools and state-funded secondary schools with more than 10 per cent .  of pupils with statements 
			  Local authority number  Local authority name  Number of schools  Percentage of schools  Number of schools  Percentage of schools 
			 202 Camden 3 5.9 0 0.0 
			 203 Greenwich 7 8.4 2 2.4 
			 204 Hackney 5 7.6 0 0.0 
			 205 Hammersmith and Fulham 3 6.3 1 2.1 
			 206 Islington 2 3.5 2 3.5 
			 207 Kensington and Chelsea 3 8.8 0 0.0 
			 208 Lambeth 4 5.2 0 0.0 
			 209 Lewisham 1 1.2 0 0.0 
			 210 Southwark 5 5.5 1 1.1 
			 211 Tower Hamlets 6 6.7 1 1.1 
			 212 Wandsworth 3 4.3 2 2.9 
			 213 Westminster 2 3.7 1 1.9 
			 301 Barking and Dagenham 1 1.7 0 0.0 
			 302 Barnet 5 4.5 0 0.0 
			 303 Bexley 4 5.3 0 0.0 
			 305 Bromley 14 15.1 2 2.2 
			 306 Croydon 4 3.4 0 0.0 
			 307 Ealing 3 3.7 0 0.0 
			 308 Enfield 1 1.2 0 0.0 
			 310 Harrow 1 1.6 0 0.0 
			 311 Havering 2 2.4 1 1.2 
			 312 Hillingdon 1 1.2 0 0.0 
			 313 Hounslow 2 2.7 1 1.4 
			 314 Kingston upon Thames 1 2.2 0 0.0 
			 315 Merton 2 3.9 0 0.0 
			 316 Newham 1 1.1 0 0.0 
			 317 Redbridge 1 1.4 0 0.0 
			 318 Richmond upon Thames 3 6.0 0 0.0 
			 319 Sutton 4 7.0 2 3.5 
			 330 Birmingham 19 4.8 3 0.8 
			 331 Coventry 1 1.0 0 0.0 
			 332 Dudley 2 2.0 0 0.0 
			 333 Sandwell 1 0.9 0 0.0 
			 334 Solihull 1 1.3 0 0.0 
			 335 Walsall 1 0.9 0 0.0 
			 336 Wolverhampton 4 3.9 1 1.0 
			 341 Liverpool 4 2.4 3 1.8 
			 343 Sefton 5 4.9 1 1.0 
			 344 Wirral 7 5.8 1 0.8 
			 350 Bolton 1 0.8 0 0.0 
			 351 Bury 6 7.7 0 0.0 
			 352 Manchester 1 0.6 0 0.0 
			 353 Oldham 1 0.9 0 0.0 
			 354 Rochdale 3 3.4 0 0.0 
			 355 Salford 2 2.1 1 1.0 
			 356 Stockport 7 6.1 1 0.9 
			 357 Tameside 1 1.1 0 0.0 
			 358 Trafford 4 4.5 2 2.2 
			 359 Wigan 1 0.8 0 0.0 
			 370 Barnsley 1 1.1 0 0.0 
			 371 Doncaster 1 0.8 0 0.0 
			 372 Rotherham 2 1.7 1 0.8 
			 373 Sheffield 6 3.6 1 0.6 
			 380 Bradford 2 1.0 0 0.0 
			 382 Kirklees 10 5.4 2 1.1 
			 383 Leeds 3 1.2 0 0.0 
			 384 Wakefield 5 3.5 0 0.0 
			 390 Gateshead 2 2.5 0 0.0 
			 392 North Tyneside 4 5.6 0 0.0 
			 393 South Tyneside 3 4.7 2 3.1 
			 394 Sunderland 3 2.8 0 0.0 
			 800 Bath and North East Somerset 6 8.0 0 0.0 
			 801 Bristol, City of 5 3.5 3 2.1 
			 802 North Somerset 2 2.7 0 0.0 
			 803 South Gloucestershire 5 4.5 0 0.0 
			 806 Middlesbrough 6 11.8 2 3.9 
			 807 Redcar and Cleveland 3 5.4 0 0.0 
			 808 Stockton-on-Tees 2 2.7 0 0.0 
			 810 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 5 5.7 1 1.1 
			 811 East Riding of Yorkshire 1 0.7 0 0.0 
			 812 North East Lincolnshire 5 7.2 0 0.0 
			 813 North Lincolnshire 6 7.6 0 0.0 
			 815 North Yorkshire 7 1.9 0 0.0 
			 820 Bedfordshire 1 0.5 0 0.0 
			 821 Luton 2 2.8 0 0.0 
			 825 Buckinghamshire 10 4.6 2 0.9 
			 826 Milton Keynes 5 4.8 0 0.0 
			 830 Derbyshire 14 3.4 0 0.0 
			 831 Derby 4 4.0 2 2.0 
			 835 Dorset 4 2.4 0 0.0 
			 840 Durham 6 2.1 1 0.4 
			 841 Darlington 1 2.6 0 0.0 
			 845 East Sussex 4 2.2 0 0.0 
			 846 Brighton and Hove 3 4.5 0 0.0 
			 850 Hampshire 14 2.8 1 0.2 
			 851 Portsmouth 1 1.6 1 1.6 
			 855 Leicestershire 14 5.0 1 0.4 
			 856 Leicester 2 2.0 1 1.0 
			 857 Rutland 1 5.0 0 0.0 
			 860 Staffordshire 3 0.8 0 0.0 
			 861 Stoke-on-Trent 2 2.1 0 0.0 
			 865 Wiltshire 13 5.6 2 0.9 
			 866 Swindon 1 1.4 0 0.0 
			 867 Bracknell Forest 1 2.8 0 0.0 
			 868 Windsor and Maidenhead 3 4.8 0 0.0 
			 869 West Berkshire 4 5.1 0 0.0 
			 870 Reading 3 6.1 0 0.0 
			 871 Slough 2 4.5 0 0.0 
			 872 Wokingham 6 9.8 2 3.3 
			 873 Cambridgeshire 9 3.8 0 0.0 
			 874 Peterborough 3 4.3 1 1.4 
			 875 Cheshire 30 9.7 4 1.3 
			 876 Halton 5 7.8 1 1.6 
			 877 Warrington 7 8.4 2 2.4 
			 878 Devon 28 7.9 2 0.6 
			 879 Plymouth 4 4.3 0 0.0 
			 880 Torbay 5 12.5 1 2.5 
			 881 Essex 17 3.1 7 1.3 
			 883 Thurrock 2 3.8 0 0.0 
			 884 Herefordshire 2 2.1 1 1.1 
			 885 Worcestershire 5 2.2 2 0.9 
			 886 Kent 19 3.4 4 0.7 
			 887 Medway 6 5.8 4 3.8 
			 888 Lancashire 37 6.2 5 0.8 
			 889 Blackburn with Darwen 2 2.7 0 0.0 
			 892 Nottingham 1 0.9 0 0.0 
			 893 Shropshire 7 4.3 2 1.2 
			 894 Telford and Wrekin 2 2.8 0 0.0 
			 908 Cornwall 16 5.9 1 0.4 
			 909 Cumbria 23 7.0 3 0.9 
			 916 Gloucestershire 10 3.4 1 0.3 
			 919 Hertfordshire 6 1.2 2 0.4 
			 925 Lincolnshire 37 10.5 2 0.6 
			 926 Norfolk 38 9.0 3 0.7 
			 928 Northamptonshire 13 4.1 1 0.3 
			 929 Northumberland 14 7.1 2 1.0 
			 931 Oxfordshire 2 0.7 0 0.0 
			 933 Somerset 2 0.8 0 0.0 
			 935 Suffolk 20 6.0 2 0.6 
			 936 Surrey 29 7.9 8 2.2 
			 937 Warwickshire 5 2.1 0 0.0 
			 938 West Sussex 7 2.5 1 0.4 
			   
			  England 798 3.8 116 0.6 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes City Technology Colleges and Academies. (3) Excludes dually registered pupils.

Young People: Carers

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children under the age of 16 years have been identified as young carers in  (a) the London borough of Bexley,  (b) London and  (c) England in the latest period for which figures are available.

Beverley Hughes: The 2001 census, which is the only source of nationally comparable data on the number of carers of all ages, indicated that the number of young carers aged under 16 was 400 in the London borough of Bexley, 14,000 in London and 90,000 in England as a whole.

HEALTH

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of whether the partial-birth abortion procedure is practised in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: We are not aware of the procedure referred to as 'partial-birth abortion' being used in Great Britain.
	The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) issued a request in 1996 to ask all its members and fellows to ensure that they are recording details of any abortion using a procedure involving intrauterine decompression of the aftercoming head of the foetus on the form on which each abortion must be notified to the chief medical officer. Each form is checked and monitored.
	It is the RCOG's belief that this form of abortion is never used as a primary or proactive technique and is only ever likely to be performed in unforeseen circumstances in order to reduce maternal mortality or severe morbidity.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many women in Scotland aged  (a) 18,  (b) 17,  (c) 16,  (d) 15,  (e) 14,  (f) 13 and  (g) 12 years who had had an abortion in (i) 2006 and (ii) 2007 had had (A) one, (B) two, (C) three, (D) four and (E) five or more previous abortions;
	(2)  how many abortions were performed in Scotland under the Abortion Act 1967 as amended by section 37 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 where the unborn child was suffering from cleft  (a) palate and  (b) lip, broken down by (i) grounds for abortion, (ii) length of gestation and (iii) health authority in each of the last 15 years;
	(3)  how many abortions were performed in Scotland in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by type of procedure;
	(4)  how many abortions have been performed in Scotland under the provisions of the Abortion Act 1967 in the last 30 years; and how many and what percentage of these abortions were performed in emergency to save the life of the mother;
	(5)  how many women in Scotland were referred by national health service GPs to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service for an abortion in each of the last four years for which figures are available, broken down by  (a) age of the woman,  (b) gestation of the pregnancy and  (c) region of residence;
	(6)  how many early medical abortions were performed in Scotland by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service at the request of the national health service in each of the last four years, broken down by  (a) age of the woman,  (b) gestation of the pregnancy and  (c) region of residence;
	(7)  how many girls in Scotland, aged  (a) 12,  (b) 13,  (c) 14 and  (d) 15 years of age had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four or more abortions in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: Data on abortions performed in Scotland are a matter for the Scottish Government.

Abortion

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the next edition of the abortion statistics will be published; and what the reasons are for the time taken to publish it.

Dawn Primarolo: The Statistical Bulletin, Abortion Statistics, England and Wales 2008 will be published in May 2009. Abortion statistics are published annually.

Abortion: Young People

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of recorded under 18-year-old conceptions were followed by  (a) first abortions and  (b) repeat abortions in (i) England in each year since 1997 and (ii) each primary care trust area in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available has been placed in the Library.

Allergies

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people  (a) have been admitted to hospital with and  (b) died from anaphylaxis in each of the last 10 years.

Ann Keen: The following table provides information from the NHS Information Centre on finished admission episodes with a diagnosis of anaphylactic shock from 1997-08 to 2007-08.
	
		
			Year (of end of first period of care in-patients hospital stay) 
			  Code  Description  2007-08  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05  2003-04  2002-03  2001-02  2000-01  1999-2000  1998-99  1997-98 
			 T78.0 Anaphylactic shock due to adverse food reaction 1,104 1,055 979 829 714 686 605 648 654 540 551 
			 T78.2 Anaphylactic shock, unspecified 1,777 1,716 1,555 1,516 1,211 967 916 953 913 785 706 
			 T80.5 Anaphylactic shock due to serum 10 11 8 14 13 8 10 9 11 6 16 
			 T88.6 Anaphylactic shock due to adverse effect of correct drug or medicament properly administered 494 491 536 462 397 308 321 357 380 323 285 
		
	
	The following table contains information from the Office for National Statistics on the number of deaths with a cause of anaphylactic shock, England and Wales, 1998 to 2007.
	
		
			  Persons 
			   Deaths 
			 1998 8 
			 1999 12 
			 2000 14 
			 2001 7 
			 2002 6 
			 2003 19 
			 2004 29 
			 2005 15 
			 2006 25 
			 2007 24

Ambulance Services

Frank Cook: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans there are to  (a) open,  (b) close and  (c) centralise ambulance control rooms in each region in each of the next three years.

Ben Bradshaw: The organisation of control rooms is an issue for ambulance trusts to manage locally. The information is therefore not collected centrally.
	You may wish to approach your local national health service organisations for further information.

Animal Experiments: EU Law

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of the potential effects of the proposed revisions to the EU Animals in Research Directive on medical research activity in England; what proposals he has made to the European Commission on the matter; and if he will make a statement.

Shahid Malik: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government welcome the publication of the European Commission's proposal for a revised directive. We support the Commission's aim to harmonise the regulation of animal experimentation across the European Union. We also support measures to promote high welfare standards for laboratory animals and to promote the development and use of alternatives. At the same time we believe it is vital that regulation properly balances the protection of animals and the legitimate needs of science and industry while maintaining public confidence that animals are not allowed to suffer unnecessarily.
	We are in the process of assessing the detailed technical provisions of the draft directive and will shortly launch a public consultation to assist in developing the Government's negotiating position. Our key priority in negotiating the revised directive will be to develop practical, proportionate and enforceable legislation that makes proper provision for the welfare of laboratory animals, facilitates their responsible use, and can adapt to further technical progress.

Arthritis

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the cost to  (a) the NHS and  (b) social services of providing services to those diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many new cases of rheumatoid arthritis were diagnosed in England in the last year for which figures are available;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the number of people with rheumatoid arthritis in each  (a) strategic health authority and  (b) primary care trust area in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Ann Keen: Information on the number of people with rheumatoid arthritis, or on the number of new cases diagnosed each year, is not collected centrally.
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has estimated that there are 400,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis in the United Kingdom and approximately 12,000 people develop the condition each year.
	NICE has also estimated that the annual cost of fully implementing its clinical guideline on the management of rheumatoid arthritis in adults in England would be 54 million. No assessment has been made of the cost of providing social services to people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

Bone Marrow Disorders: Donors

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust on the availability of bone marrow for transplants; what his policy is on encouraging people to offer to be bone marrow transplant donors; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health met with the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust on 4 February 2009. The meeting focused on the work of the charity and their role in promoting bone marrow donation. Combined, the three UK Bone Marrow Registries (the British Bone Marrow Registry (BBMR), the Welsh Bone Marrow Registry and the Anthony Nolan Trust Bone Marrow Registry) are the third largest in the world. In 2008, the Department agreed a business case from the NHS Blood and Transplant Authority to support the BBMR through to 2012.

Bone Marrow Disorders: Donors

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy that people who attend blood donor sessions should be invited to join the register of bone marrow transplant donors; if he will issue posters inviting people to be bone marrow transplant donors to GP surgeries, dispensing chemists and NHS trusts; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The British Bone Marrow Register was established by the National Blood Service (NBS, which is now part of NHS Blood and Transplant) over 30 years ago. Bone marrow donors are primarily identified through the blood donation service. Leaflets promoting blood donation are routinely sent to a wide range of organisations including general practitioners surgeries, chemists and national health service trusts.

Brain: Cancer

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children were diagnosed with brain tumours in the last 12 months; and what the survival rate for such children was in each of the last 10 years.

Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009 :
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many children were diagnosed with brain tumours in the last 12 months; and what the survival rate for such children was in each of the last 10 years.
	The latest available figures for newly diagnosed cases of cancer (incidence) are for the year 2006. There were 233 newly diagnosed cases of brain cancer in children (aged under 15) in 2006.
	The Office for National Statistics does not routinely produce figures for cancer survival in children.

Breast Cancer: Shift Work

Mohammad Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has funded research on the potential for a link between prolonged night working and the incidence of female breast cancer.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	The Health and Safety Executive has commissioned a major research project at the University of Oxford on The relationship between shift work and disease that addresses the reported association between working at night and the incidence of female breast cancer, and other cancers and diseases. The report will be published in 2011. (The Executive is also co-funding an April 2009 workshop on enhancing the quality of exposure information about shift work for such studies organised by the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer.)

Cord Blood

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the conclusions of his Department's national cord blood review.

Dawn Primarolo: The Department, as part of its review of the collection and use of umbilical cord blood, is working with partners in other Government bodies and the third sector to ensure that the United Kingdom strengthens further the provision of stem cells for patients in need of a transplant. We have asked for proposals to be drafted by the end of March 2009 and will publish any conclusions in due course.

Departmental Buildings

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much was spent by his  (a) Department and  (b) its agencies on furniture in each of the last five years.

Ben Bradshaw: The cost of furniture purchased by the Department and its agencies (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency) in each of the last five years is:
	
		
			   
			   Department  Agencies 
			 2004-05 74,795 428,723 
			 2005-06 1,178,689 194,396 
			 2006-07 1,071,247 74,112 
			 2007-08 696,657 90,237 
			 2008-09 450,698 50,255

Departmental Internet

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions his Department's website has been temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem in each year for which figures are available.

Ben Bradshaw: Between February 2004 and March 2007, the Department's website was hosted as part of a shared service run by the Office of the e-Envoy. During this period there were no occasions when the website was temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem.
	In March 2007, the Department's website transferred to a new managed service, shared with Directgov. Since then, the Department's website has been temporarily unavailable due to a technical problem as follows: five occasions between March 2007 and December 2007, 11 occasions between January 2008 and December 2008 and four occasions from January 2009 to date.

Departmental Manpower

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the  (a) specialist areas of work,  (b) job description,  (c) salary band and  (d) grade is of each official in his Department who works in social care.

Phil Hope: The strategic objectives of the Department are better health and well-being for all, better care for all and better value for all. Every official within the Department contributes, through their personal objectives, to achieving those goals for both health and social care.
	The social care, local government and care partnerships directorate has the specific responsibility for the development of policy on adult social care, and on mental health and health services for offenders. In meeting this responsibility, the directorate is supported by the rest of the Department. The directorate has an establishment of 149.01 whole-time equivalent officials. Of these 106.88 whole-time equivalents currently work exclusively on adult social care policy. A director-general in pay band three of the senior civil service leads the directorate. The specialist areas of work, civil service pay bands and business unit objectives of the officials who work exclusively on adult social care are in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of whole- time equivalent staff working exclusively on adult social care policy at the Department of Health 
			Whole-time  equivalents establishment by civil service grade (at 25 March 2009) 
			  Business unit  Description of objectives  Senior civil service pay band 2  Senior civil service  pay band 1  Grade 6  Grade 7  Senior Executive Officer 
			 Social care policy and innovation To develop policies and support innovative practices that promote equality, human rights and social inclusion by embedding choice, control and personal safety in social care services 1 3.7 4.83 17.9 11.15 
			 Social care strategy unit To provide overall strategic direction on priorities for social care and developing the green paper on reform to care and support  1 5.4 5.4 1 
			 Social care strategic finance To lead on the key issues related to the funding of social care in England 1   1  
			 Social care leadership and performance To improve the quality, performance and status of social care through strengthening the performance framework, increasing the capacity and capability of the work force, enhancing leadership and providing a local government perspective in the Department 1 9.88 2 6  
			  Total by grade 3 14.58 12.23 30.3 12.15 
		
	
	
		
			Whole- time equivalents establishment by civil service grade (at 25 March 2009) 
			  Business unit  Description of objectives  Higher Executive Officer  Executive Officer  Administrative Officer  Fast Stream  Total 
			 Social care policy and innovation To develop policies and support innovative practices that promote equality, human rights and social inclusion by embedding choice, control and personal safety in social care services. 6 12.07 2 3 61.65 
			 Social care strategy unit To provide overall strategic direction on priorities for social care and developing the green paper on reform to care and support. 1   4 17.8 
			 Social care strategic finance To lead on the key issues related to the funding of social care in England.  1.55   3.55 
			 Social care leadership and performance To improve the quality, performance and status of social care through strengthening the performance framework, increasing the capacity and capability of the work force, enhancing leadership and providing a local government perspective in the Department 2 2  1 23.88 
			  Total by grade 9 15.62 2 8 106.88 
			  Source: Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships Directorate local staff records.

Departmental Redundancy

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 20 January 2009,  Official Report, column 1370W, on redundancy, how many staff left his Department under staff exit schemes with a severance package worth  (a) between 100,000 and 125,000,  (b) between 125,001 and 150,000,  (c) between 150,001 and 200,000,  (d) between 200,001 and 250,000,  (e) between 250,001 and 500,000,  (f) between 500,001 and 1,000,000 and  (g) over 1,000,000 in each year since 2005-06.

Ben Bradshaw: Information on severance packages given to staff leaving the Department under exit schemes in each year since 2005-06 is presented in the following table:
	
		
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 100,000-125,000 3 1 7 
			 125,000-150,000 3 3 5 
			 150,000-200,000 6 1 7 
			 200,000-250,000 2 2 3 
			 250,000-500,000 2 4 5 
			 500,000-1,000,000 5 3 1 
			 Total 21 14 28

Departmental Training

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many training courses were taken by  (a) civil servants and  (b) Ministers in his Department in each of the last three years; and what the total cost of training was in each year.

Ben Bradshaw: The Department recognises the value and importance of providing fair and equitable development opportunities to all our staff throughout their career.
	In 2007-08 the Department ran 144 corporate events which 1,670 participants attended. For 2006-07 and 2005-06 no information is held for the number of events or participants and to establish the numbers would incur disproportionate costs.
	Departmental costs of corporate learning and development for the last three complete years are as follows:
	
		
			   Costs () 
			 2007-08 1,312,256 
			 2006-07 1,294,299 
			 2005-06 1,519,123 
		
	
	Information about courses run and paid for locally within departmental directorates is not held centrally, and would incur disproportionate costs to establish.
	The details and cost of training for Ministers are not held centrally in the Department but the National School of Government (NSG) records show that the NSG delivered 20 training courses for members of the Department's ministerial team within the timescale in question at a cost of 2,800.
	
		
			   Cost ()  Number of Ministers attending 
			 2008-09 (to date) 900 4 
			 2007-08 1,750 8 
			 2006-07 150 3 
			 2005-06 0 5

Departmental Visits Abroad

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much expenditure was incurred in respect of overseas visits which  (a) he,  (b) other Ministers in his Department and  (c) his Department's senior officials undertook in 2008.

Ben Bradshaw: Since 1999, the Government have published a list of all overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over 500. Information for the financial year 2007-08 was published on 22 July 2008,  Official Report, column 102WS, and for the first time, included details of overseas visits undertaken by all Ministers. All travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
	In respect of senior officials (taken to mean all members of the senior civil service), this information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. All travel by officials in the Department is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code, which requires:
	'staff use the most efficient and economic means of travel in the circumstances.'

Enfield Primary Care Trust: Health Visitors

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health visitors were employed in Enfield Primary Care Trust in each of the last 11 years.

Ann Keen: The information on the number of health visitors in the Enfield primary care trust (PCT) for each of the last 11 years is provided in the following table. The number of health visitors has reduced from 2005 onwards. However there are more people working in children's services in the community. The way services are organised now means that health visitors are more likely to be working in teams in which support for families is available in more innovative ways, such as in children's centres.
	
		
			  NHS hospital and community health services: Health visitors in the Enfield PCT( 1)  as at 30 September each specified year 
			   Health visitors (headcount) 
			 1997 62 
			 1998 58 
			 1999 59 
			 2000 54 
			 2001 55 
			 2002 59 
			 2003 65 
			 2004 58 
			 2005 56 
			 2006 50 
			 2007 50 
			 (1) In 2002 Enfield Community Healthcare NHS Trust and Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust merged to form Enfield PCT. Figures prior to 2002 are an aggregate of these predecessor organisations.  Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

Food: Hygiene

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with  (a) Ministerial colleagues,  (b) non-departmental bodies,  (c) local authorities and  (d) representatives of the food industry on (i) mandatory food hygiene training, (ii) other initiatives to improve food hygiene standards and (iii) penalties for performance below specified food hygiene standards; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets with his ministerial colleagues and other authorities on a regular basis to discuss a variety of issues.
	The Food Standards Agency regularly meets with a range of Government and industry organisations to discuss food hygiene, training and standards.

Health Care Scientists: Manpower

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many health care scientists are employed in the NHS.

Ann Keen: The total number of qualified health care scientists employed by the national health service in England is 31,028 headcount and 28,543 full-time equivalent.

Health Services

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many meetings  (a) he and  (b) Ministers in his Department have had with patient and support groups on (i) cardiovascular disease, (ii) stroke and (iii) diabetes in the last 12 months; and what plans he has further to involve such groups in strategic policy development in relevant areas.

Ann Keen: Over the last 12 months, Ministers in the Department have had eight meetings with patient and support groups on cardiovascular disease (which includes stroke) and we have had two meetings with Diabetes UK on a range of issues around diabetes. The meetings include incidences when the Ministers have spoken at conferences.
	Officials have regular meetings with patient and support groups on cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We fully intend that groups representing patients' interests should continue to be involved in the development and refinement of our policies and recognise their valuable input.

Health Services

Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients on average  (a) an urban and  (b) a rural (i) NHS dentist, (ii) NHS GP and (iii) NHS community nurse treated in each region in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Information is not available in the format requested.
	You may wish to approach local national health service organisations for more information.

Health Services: Elderly

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what longitudinal studies his Department has commissioned on preventative measures in the care of older people; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: The Department has collaborated with other Government Departments to fund the UK leg of the English Longitudinal study of Ageing with the US Institute of Aging providing matching funding to enable international comparison.

Health Services: Prisons

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many healthcare beds in each prison in England were being used by prisoners with no clinical need for in-patient care on the latest date for which figures are available.

Phil Hope: This information is not collected or available centrally.

Hospitals: Disinfectants

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health which products based on the generation of peracetic acid are used by NHS organisations; and if he will make a statement.

Ann Keen: The Department does not have the information requested as infection control products do not have to be purchased through NHS Supply Chain. National health service trusts are free to choose which products to purchase and will maintain their own records.

Human Papilloma Virus: Vaccination

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people eligible for the Cervarix vaccine over the lifetime of the contract.

Dawn Primarolo: The current contract for human papilloma virus vaccine is for a period of three years, and covers provision of the vaccine to girls in England, the devolved Administrations, United Kingdom territories and children of the armed forces covered by the Ministry of Defence health provision.
	Approximately 2.4 million girls and young women in England will be eligible for the vaccine during this period.

Infant Foods

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the NHS Healthy Start scheme includes entitlement to free infant formula; and under what circumstances free infant formula is provided.

Dawn Primarolo: Healthy Start provides a nutritional safety net for pregnant women and children under four years old in low income and disadvantaged families. The scheme provides vouchers that can be put towards the cost of cow's milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and infant formula milk at participating retailers. We recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and the scheme encourages this. However, if mothers choose not to breastfeed, formula is the only safe alternative for children under one year of age, as the use of cow's milk is not recommended. This is why infant formula is included in the scheme. However, follow-on formula is not included because scientific advice is that follow-on formula has no additional nutritional benefits for healthy babies over six months old.

Learning Disability: Parents

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to his Department's consultation on Valuing People Now, how many children live with a parent with one or more learning disability; how many and what proportion of parents with a learning disability  (a) live with their children and  (b) are in stable partnerships; what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of supporting a parent with one or more learning disability who live with their children; how many and what proportion of such parents receive support at (i) critical, (ii) substantial, (iii) moderate and (iv) mild levels; what estimate he has made of the number of such families in 2015; and what assessment he has made of the effect of a parent's learning disability on their children.

Phil Hope: The Department does not hold data on the number of children living with parents with learning disabilities, nor do we hold data on how many and what proportion of parents with a learning disability live with their children or are in stable partnerships, nor on the number and proportion of such families who receive support at different levels.
	Research cited by the Joint Committee on Human Rights report A Life Like Any Other (2008) suggests that approximately 50 per cent. of parents with learning disabilities do not live with their children.
	On 19 January 2009, the Secretary of State for Health published Valuing People Now, which set out the need to do more to make sure that adults' and children's services work more effectively together. This includes improving identification of families that need extra support and carrying out more effective assessments of their needs, to ensure that families with complex needs, including parents with learning disabilities, receive the right level of support at an earlier stage.
	As part of Valuing People Now, we emphasised the need to improve information on the numbers and needs of people with learning disabilities; this includes parents with learning disabilities. This will enable better understanding of current and projected demands and to help inform local needs assessments.
	It is for local authorities to work with local partners to assess the needs of parents with learning disabilities and their children. Local authorities should hold information about families who are known to services and their level of need.

Leukaemia: Hertfordshire

Michael Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people diagnosed with leukaemia there were in  (a) Hemel Hempstead and  (b) Hertfordshire on the latest date for which figures are available.

Kevin Brennan: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009 :
	.
	We do not have an estimate of how many people there are at any one time. Numbers of newly diagnosed cases of leukaemia in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available, in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire are in Table 1.
	
		
			  Table 1:  Registrations of newly diagnosed cases of leukaemia( 1) , persons: Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituency( 2)  and Hertfordshire county, 2006 
			   Number 
			 Hemel Hempstead 3 
			 Hertfordshire 79 
			 (1) Leukaemia is coded to C91-C95 in the International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD-10). (2) Based on boundaries as of 2007.  Source: Office for National Statistics

Magnetic Resonance Imagers

Mark Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of the effects of the EU Physical Agents Directive on the use of magnetic resonance imaging technology in England; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan R Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
	The adopted directive has been amended to provide for a later implementation date of April 2012 so that the EU can reassess its potential impact. HSE continues to engage with a wide range of stakeholders on this matter.

Mental Health Services: Women

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress has been made on implementing the Women's Mental Health strategy since it was published.

Phil Hope: Significant progress has been made since the publication of the Women's Mental Health strategy Into the Mainstream in 2002 (a copy has been placed in the Library) and the implementation guidance Mainstreaming Gender Equality and Women's Mental Health in 2003 (a copy has already been placed in the Library).
	The Gender Equality and Women's Mental Health programme was established by the National Institute of Mental Health in England (NIMHE) in 2004, to progress the implementation of Into the Mainstream. It carried out a benchmarking of mental health trusts in 2007, to assess progress made since the publication of Into the Mainstream.
	Many mental health trusts now have a champion for women's mental health within the organisation; a number of trusts have developed a women's mental health strategy, with approximately half of trusts describing specific initiatives for women; and 92 per cent. of responding trusts reported developments in psychological therapies from which women have benefited.
	We expect that a more detailed progress report will be published later this year. The Gender Equality and Women's Mental Health programme continues to be a key national programme and will move into the new national mental health delivery unit in April 2009.

NHS Bank

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many NHS trusts are borrowing money from the NHS Bank; how much each trust has paid in interest on such loans since they were taken out; and what rate of interest each is paying;
	(2)  how many NHS trusts are lenders to the NHS Bank; and how much each has received in interest on such loans since they were taken out;
	(3)  how much profit the NHS Bank made in each of the last three years;
	(4)  what the interest rate for  (a) borrowers and  (b) lenders to the NHS Bank was in each month since such interest charges were introduced.

Ben Bradshaw: The NHS bank function no longer operates.
	The Department makes loans for capital investment to national health service trusts and NHS foundation trusts and to NHS trusts for working capital. Details of interest rates and interest paid to date on current loans by trust are given in the table. Interest payments are made to the Department and are available for spending elsewhere in the NHS.
	The Department does not take deposits from NHS trusts or foundation trusts.
	The interest rate paid on loans is the National Loan Fund (NLF) Equal Instalment of Principle rate. The interest rate is updated daily and the actual rate charged relates to the term of loan. The rate is published daily by the Debt Management Office. Current and historic rates are available at:
	www.dmo.gov.uk/index.aspx?page=PWLB/PWLB_Interest_ Rates
	
		
			  Interest rates and total interest paid on current loans to NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts from the Department of Health 
			   National loan fund rate (fixed for term)  (percentage)  Total interest paid to date ( 000) 
			 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.70 146 
			 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.90 606 
			 Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3.04 0 
			 Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust 4.48 194 
			 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.40 2,131 
			 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3.94 0 
			 Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2.67 0 
			 Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2.92 0 
			 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.85 874 
			 City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust 4.25 639 
			 City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust 4.30 217 
			 Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.85 1,101 
			 Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 5.05 327 
			 Dorset Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 5.50 191 
			 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.95 978 
			 Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.69 0 
			 Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.08 0 
			 Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.90 74 
			 Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.90 186 
			 Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5.60 283 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5.21 0 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5.34 0 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.65 248 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.60 691 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.50 243 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.45 78 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 4.40 719 
			 Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5.05 78 
			 Norfolk and Waveney NHS Foundation Trust 3.87 0 
			 Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5.55 270 
			 Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust 4.12 0 
			 Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust 4.55 1,792 
			 Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust 5.05 746 
			 Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4.80 571 
			 Stockport NHS Foundation Trust 4.80 2,937 
			 Stockport NHS Foundation Trust 3.43 0 
			 The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 2.57 0 
			 The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 3.23 0 
			 University Hospital of South Manchester 3.51 0 
			 Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust 5.40 1,374 
			 Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust 5.45 459 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 1,533 
			 Royal Bolton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 5.50 367 
			 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 5.40 2,807 
			 East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust 5.45 715 
			 East Cheshire NHS Trust 5.50 570 
			 East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 350 
			 Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust 5.50 1,141 
			 George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust 5.45 604 
			 Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 5.45 263 
			 Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust 5.50 268 
			 Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 828 
			 Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust 5.35 2,212 
			 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 5.50 897 
			 Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust 5.45 1,737 
			 North Bristol NHS Trust 5.05 4,890 
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 5.50 718 
			 North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 5.20 1,174 
			 North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 5.45 1,375 
			 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 2,184 
			 Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust 5.40 1,868 
			 Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust 5.45 218 
			 Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust 5.50 514 
			 Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District NHS Trust 5.50 276 
			 Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust 5.05 3,489 
			 Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust 5.45 701 
			 Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust 5.50 1,002 
			 South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust 5.35 1,763 
			 Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 2,189 
			 St George's Healthcare NHS Trust 5.45 3,115 
			 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 4.95 4,481 
			 The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust 5.45 1,251 
			 The Royal West Sussex NHS Trust 5.20 1,629 
			 Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust 5.50 138 
			 Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust 4.19 122 
			 University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust 5.50 485 
			 West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 1,026 
			 West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust 5.50 159 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 5.30 2,528 
			 Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust 5.45 438 
			 Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 5.45 2,291 
			 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust 5.35 1,632 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 3.97 65 
			 Brighton and Sussex University Hospital NHS Trust 4.01 186 
			 North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 5.10 29 
			 North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 4.34 17 
			 Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust 5.20 53 
			 Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust 3.98 28 
			 St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust 5.20 17 
			 St Georges Healthcare NHS Trust 3.98 170 
			 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust 5.15 77 
			 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust 4.07 42 
			 Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.39 968 
			 Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 5.32 1,547 
			 Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 1.63 0 
			 The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust 5.31 180 
			 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust 5.31 523 
			 West Middlesex University NHS Trust 5.30 480 
			 West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust 4.69 116 
			 Weston Area Health NHS Trust 5.32 479 
			 Weston Area Health NHS Trust 1.40 0 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 0.82 0 
			 East Cheshire 2.39 0 
			 North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust 4.88 39 
			 Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust 4.19 251 
			 Queen Elizabeth Hospital Kings Lynn NHS Trust 4.86 210 
			 Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic and District NHS Trust 4.85 31 
			 Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust 4.85 184 
			 Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust 4.19 305 
			 Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust 4.88 169 
			 East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust 3.48 13 
			 Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust 2.82 17 
			 Hereford Hospitals NHS Trust 2.69 0 
			 Hull and East Yorkshire NHS Trust 3.65 0 
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals Foundation Trust 4.88 109 
			 Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust 2.69 0 
			 Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust 2.69 0 
			 South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust 4.88 84 
			 South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust 3.48 30 
			 Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust 4.85 192 
			 West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.40 467 
			 West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 5.40 362

NHS: ICT

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the NHS IT programme; and what recent assessment he has made of progress on the programme.

Ben Bradshaw: The overall cost of the NHS Information Technology (IT) programme includes both central costs, and the costs managed by local NHS bodies incurred in implementing the systems, for example in training staff and upgrading computer hardware. Local information is not routinely collected in a way that differentiates expenditure on the IT programme from other local IT-related expenditure.
	The latest estimate of the overall cost is contained in Figure 7 on page 26 of the National Audit Office (NAO) report 'The National Programme for IT in the NHS: Progress since 2006', which can be found at:
	www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/07-08/0708484i.pdf
	Of this total, the NAO estimated that some 3.5 billion had been spent as at 31 March 2008.
	Many of the programme's systems have already been successfully delivered, and most of the infrastructure, including the network and central databases, are in place, as are the choose and book systems, and Picture Archiving and Communications (digital imaging) systems in every acute trust. All acute trusts and general practices in England, and over 90 per cent. of primary care trusts, are using systems delivered as part of the programme. The NHS in England could not now function without the systems which the programme has delivered.
	Progress has been slower than anticipated with the NHS care record service at local trust level. We continue to work closely with suppliers to ensure that software is fit for purpose before deployment, and are in discussions aimed at ensuring that appreciable improvements are achieved by the end of 2009. We remain confident in the potential of both the Cerner Millennium and Lorenzo systems to be able to support the NHS in the longer term.

NHS: ICT

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will publish the Office of Government Commerce gateway reviews of the NHS IT programme.

Ben Bradshaw: We are reviewing our previous policy not to disclose the review reports in light of the recent decision by the Office of Government Commerce to disclose two Gate 0 review reports on the identity cards programme. No final decision has yet been taken.

Physiology: Manpower

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) audiologists,  (b) cardiac physiologists,  (c) gastro-intestinal physiologists,  (d) neurophysiologists and  (e) respiratory physiologists are employed by the NHS.

Ann Keen: Gastro-intestinal physiologists are not identified separately in the National Health Service Workforce Census. The number of audiologists, cardiac physiologists, neurophysiologists and respiratory physiologists are given in the following table.
	
		
			   Headcount  Full-time  e quivalent (FTE) 
			 Audiologists 802 624 
			 Cardiac physiologists 989 820 
			 Neurophysiologists 52 48 
			 Respiratory physiologists 128 103

Plastic Surgery: Breasts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS patients have received corrective surgery following breast augmentation surgery performed outside the NHS in each year from 1999.

Ben Bradshaw: The information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Plastic Surgery: Breasts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients  (a) sought NHS-funded breast augmentation surgery,  (b) were referred for a psychological assessment and  (c) (i) were approved for and (ii) received treatment in each year since 1999.

Ben Bradshaw: All the information requested is not collected centrally. Such information as is available is in the following table.
	
		
			  Finished consultant episodes (FCEs) where there is a primary or secondary procedure of breast augmentation in 1998-99 to 2007-08, activity in English national health service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			   Total FCEs 
			 2007-08 1,601 
			 2006-07 1,677 
			 2005-06 1,739 
			 2004-05 1,763 
			 2003-04 1,539 
			 2002-03 1,412 
			 2001-02 1,196 
			 2000-01 1,217 
			 1999-2000 1,175 
			 1998-99 1,310 
			  Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, The NHS Information Centre for health and social care

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Linda Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make it his policy to abolish prescription charges for people with long-term conditions before the end of the present Parliament; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  which medical conditions are considered to be long-term conditions in the context of Professor Ian Gilmore's review of prescription charges.

Dawn Primarolo: The Government have asked the President of the Royal College of Physicians (Professor Ian Gilmore) to carry out a review of prescription charges that will consider how to implement the commitment to exempt patients with long-term conditions from prescription charges, including how exemption from charges can be phased in. The review is due to report its recommendations to departmental Ministers in summer 2009.

Primary Care Trusts: Freedom of Information

John Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department provides to primary care trusts on the standards of their responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Ben Bradshaw: As public authorities in their own right, each primary care trust is responsible under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the responses it provides.
	The Department has provided guidance to national health service organisations on the processes that they should have in place for managing their Freedom of Information requests and on the need for publication schemes to be in place by 1 January 2009.

Primary Health Care: Expenditure

Fraser Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much has been spent by his Department in providing primary care in each of the last 10 years.

Ben Bradshaw: Total primary care expenditure, covering general practitioners, dentists, pharmacists and opticians, for the last 10 years from 1998-99 to 2007-08 is contained in the following table.
	
		
			  Family Health Services gross expenditure 
			   million 
			   Cash  Resource 
			   1998-99  1999-2000  2000-01  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 Drugs(1,)( )(2) 4,356 4,852 5,168 5,160 5,714 6,345 6,963 7,376 7,235 7,593 7,663 
			 GP Contract Total Spend(3,)( )(4,)( )(5) 3,158 3,420 3,624 3,734 3,919 4,084 5,006 6,103 6,851 6,943 7,053 
			 General Dental Services (GDS)(6,)( )(7) 1,438 1,477 1,555 1,561 1,638 1,709 1,767 1,671 1,448 n/a n/a 
			 Primary Dental Services (PDS) 4 13 22 22 36 41 48 280 757 n/a n/a 
			 PCT commissioned Primary Dental Care services n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,212 2,386 
			 General Ophthalmic Services (GOS)(8) 240 281 292 290 302 304 322 340 359 381 405 
			 Pharmaceutical services 781 808 856 867 879 919 962 966 1,162 1,033 1,054 
			 Total Family Health Services 9,977 10,851 11,517 11,634 12,488 13,402 15,068 16,736 17,812 18,162 18,561 
			 (1) Primary care figures include amounts paid to pharmacy and appliance contractors by the Prescription Pricing Division PPD and amounts authorised for dispensing doctors and personal administration in England. The data do not cover costs for drugs prescribed in hospital but dispensed in the community or private prescriptions. (2) From 2000-01 figures are in resource terms, prior to this figures are in cash terms. Cash expenditure represents amounts paid between April to March to contractors for drugs, medicines, and appliances prescribed by general practitioners and nurses. These relate to February to January prescribing due to delay in prescription processing and payment calculations. Resource expenditure represents the actual cost of the prescriptions for drugs, medicines and appliances prescribed in the period April to March. (3) All Former GP Contract 1997-98 to 2002-03 spend was Independent Contractor based including both combined General Medical Services Discretionary and Non-Discretionary Spend and Personal Medical Services Discretionary only spend. The new GP contract introduced from 2003-04 now covers General Medical Services, Personal Medical Services, Alternative Provider Medical Services and Primary Care Trust (PCT) Medical Service contracting services. All new GP contract funding is now Discretionary only as notified through PCTs Unified allocations. (4) The normal GP contract spend remit for 2003-04 to 2007-08 is net of dispensing. Normally additional costs for dispensing fees and drug costs for dispensing doctors and non-dispensing doctors personal administration, are counted as part of the total contract cost. However, as these are formally part of the drugs bill cost we have adjusted to exclude for these years the amounts: 804 million, 854 million, 883 million, 814 million and 814 million respectively to avoid double counting within the FHS overall total. (5) From 2000-01 onwards all figures are in resource terms following government accounting practice changes, prior to all this figures were reported in cash terms. (6) All dental service costs are gross of patient charge income. (7) General Dental Services expenditure in 2005-06 was enhanced by an accounting adjustment to correct an historic under-estimate of GDS creditor payments outstanding at the year end. (8) GOS expenditure increased in 1999-2000 as a result of the extension of eligibility for NHS sight tests to all those aged 60 or over from 1 April 1999.  Sources: Drugs: Spend figures are taken from the Prescription Pricing Division of the NHS Business services Authority, England. GP Contract: 1996 to 2003-04 Former Old GP Contract data taken from the audited summarised NHS accounts of the 95 health authorities as replaced by 303 PCTs for England in 2002-03. 2003-to 2007-08 new Primary Medical Care nGMS contract spend is based on the audited returns of the 303 to 152 reconfigured PCT audited returns to the NHS summarised accounts. General and Primary Dental Services (GDS): Dental Practice Board and PCT accounts data. PCT commissioned Primary Dental Care services: Under the new dental service framework introduced from 1 April 2006 for local commissioning of primary dental care services, PCTs may commission general dental or specialist personal dental services according to local needs but only report aggregate primary dental care expenditure in central financial returns. General Ophthalmic Services: These are a non discretionary or demand led service, where expenditure is determined mainly by the number of eligible patients who request NHS sight tests or who require NHS optical vouchers to help with the purchase of glasses or contact lenses. Pharmaceutical services: Excludes services funded directly by PCTs and income from prescription charges.

Radiotherapy

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients the NHS has funded to travel overseas to receive proton therapy treatment for cancer in each of the last three financial years; and what the cost of such treatment to the NHS was in each of those years.

Ann Keen: There are two routes in European Union law for national health service patients who wish to receive planned health care abroad. Via the E112 route under long-standing social security arrangements, departmental data suggest that 24 British patients were authorised to go abroad for proton therapy treatment over the last three financial years (2008-09, 2007-08 and 2006-07). The Department is unable to calculate the full cost of this treatment due to the nature of the EU claims processthere is often a lengthy delay between the provision of treatment and a claim being raised.
	The Department does not collect data on people who choose to travel abroad for planned treatment under Article 49 of the EC Treatythese data are currently held by primary care trusts.
	From 1 April 2008, the proton therapy service has been nationally commissioned and designated by the National Commissioning Group (NCG). 18 cases have been recommended by the NCG's proton therapy clinical reference panel and agreed by the NCG for referral abroad. Not all cases have been accepted by proton centres abroad and not all patients have subsequently chosen to be treated by proton therapy. As at the beginning of March 2009, 14 of these 18 patients had been accepted for treatment in overseas centres. The total cost of this treatment will be available after the end of the financial year. We are aware that a small number of additional proton therapy patients have been funded using the E112 route in 2008-09.

Royal Blackburn Hospital: Accident and Emergency Departments

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions he has had with  (a) the North West Strategic Health Authority and  (b) the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust on the Trust's recent performance figures for the accident and emergency department at the Royal Blackburn hospital; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Following the hon. Member's recent question at oral Health questions, and his tabling of this parliamentary question, I have sought assurances from the North West Strategic Health Authority (SHA) from the East Lancashire Hospitals National Health Service Trust on its recent accident and emergency performance at the Royal Blackburn hospital. I will be writing to the hon. Member shortly to outline the action the SHA and the Trust have taken.

Social Services: Elderly

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of older people in each local authority received local authority funded  (a) residential and  (b) domiciliary care in each of the last 10 years.

Phil Hope: Data on the number of older people receiving local authority funded domiciliary and residential care are collected and published by the NHS Information Centre for health and social care.
	Information showing the numbers and proportion of older people aged 65 and over in local authority funded residential care, for the year ending 31 March from 1999 to 2008 and the number and proportion of older people aged 65 and over receiving local authority funded domiciliary care, for the year ending 31 March from 2002 to 2008 has been placed in the Library. Data on domiciliary care are not held centrally prior to 2001.

Social Services: Elderly

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much each local authority with social services responsibilities received in grants for older people in  (a) cash and  (b) real terms at 2008-09 prices in each of the last 10 years.

Phil Hope: The Department publishes local authority circulars and local authority and local authority social services letters. These set out the main departmental grants announced as part of the local government finance settlement which are relevant to the funding provided for social services.
	A copy of the relevant local authority circulars and local authority and local authority social services letters has been placed in the Library.
	Annex B provides a breakdown of all the grants which are solely or mainly provided to older people, over the eight-year period 2003-04 (when funding for children services became the responsibility of DCFS) to 2010-11 (the latest available data), at national total level.

Transplant Surgery: Foreigners

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many overseas organ transplant patients who had transplant surgery in the UK in each year since 1997 there were from each country of origin; and how many such patients from each country had their treatment paid for by  (a) the NHS,  (b) the health service of their country of origin and  (c) other means.

Ann Keen: The following table shows organ transplants carried out in national health service hospitals into patients recorded as resident outside the United Kingdom(1), by country, April 1998 to March 2008, broken down by type of donor. Information is not held centrally on how many such patients from each country had their treatment paid for by the NHS, the health service of their country of origin or by other means.
	(1) Excluding Republic of Ireland.
	
		
			   Type of donor  
			  Country  Deceased  Living  Total 
			 France 2 0 2 
			 Germany 2 0 2 
			 Netherlands 0 1 1 
			 Italy 124 1 125 
			 Portugal 6 0 6 
			 Malta 23 3 26 
			 Greece 97 5 102 
			 Czech Republic 1 0 1 
			 Hungary 0 1 1 
			 Bulgaria 0 1 1 
			 Cyprus 44 1 45 
			 Slovenia 1 0 1 
			 Denmark 1 0 1 
			 Norway 1 0 1 
			 Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 1 2 
			 Serbia 2 0 2 
			 Croatia 4 0 4 
			 Gibraltar 3 1 4 
			 Bermuda 0 1 1 
			 British Virgin Islands 0 1 1 
			 St. Vincent and Grenadines 0 2 2 
			 Barbados 0 1 1 
			 St. Helena 1 0 1 
			 Canada 0 1 1 
			 USA 1 0 1 
			 Brazil 5 0 5 
			 Hong Kong 2 0 2 
			 China 1 0 1 
			 Singapore 2 0 2 
			 India 14 2 16 
			 Pakistan 9 7 16 
			 Nepal 1 0 1 
			 Iran 3 8 11 
			 Iraq 1 0 1 
			 Afghanistan 1 0 1 
			 Israel 2 1 3 
			 Lebanon 0 2 2 
			 Syria 1 0 1 
			 Kuwait 65 14 79 
			 UAE 35 14 49 
			 Oman 0 2 2 
			 Qatar 1 3 4 
			 Saudi Arabia 12 5 17 
			 Yemen 1 2 3 
			 Bahrain 1 2 3 
			 Egypt 138 0 138 
			 Eritrea 1 0 1 
			 Sudan 2 1 3 
			 Libya 4 2 6 
			 Angola 0 1 1 
			 Cameroon 0 1 1 
			 Ghana 0 3 3 
			 Kenya 0 1 1 
			 Zambia 3 0 3 
			 Zimbabwe 1 3 4 
			 Nigeria 0 3 3 
			 South Africa 4 0 4 
			 Unspecified EU 6 0 6 
			 Unspecified non-EU 1 0 1 
			 Total 631 98 729

Transplant Surgery: Foreigners

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many  (a) bone marrow and  (b) tissue transplants were undertaken on persons resident outside the UK in each transplant facility in each year since 1997; and what the scale of payments for such transplants in each year was.

Ann Keen: The following table shows ocular tissue transplants carried out in national health service hospitals on patients recorded as resident outside the UK(1), April 1998 to March 2008. Information is not collated centrally on numbers of transplants of bone marrow or other tissues into patients resident within or outside the UK. The scale of payments for such transplants is not held centrally. Participating hospitals in the UK report data on the outcome of bone marrow transplants to the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation which collects information on the outcome of transplants throughout Europe.
	(1) Excluding Republic of Ireland
	
		
			  Transplant unit  Cornea  Sclera  Total 
			 London, Moorfield's Hospital 22 7 29 
			 East Grinstead, Queen Victoria Hospital 10 0 10 
			 London, Great Ormond Street Hospital 3 2 5 
			 Brighton, Sussex Eye Hospital 4 0 4 
			 London, St. George's Hospital 3 0 3 
			 Halifax, Calderdale Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Leeds General Infirmary 1 0 1 
			 Bury St. Edmund's, West Suffolk Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Ashford Hospital (Middlesex) 1 0 1 
			 London, St. Thomas Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Exeter, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Shrewsbury, Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Wolverhampton, New Cross Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Dundee, Ninewells Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Bridgend, Princess of Wales Hospital 1 0 1 
			 Total 52 9 61

Transplant Surgery: Foreigners

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much he has allocated for his Department's review of organ donations to people living outside the UK; and what plans he has to make allocations to hospitals in respect of the staff time involved in conducting the review.

Ann Keen: The Department has contracted with Elisabeth Buggins, former chair of the Organ Donation Taskforce, to undertake the review of organ allocation to non-UK European Union residents and to report her findings by June 2009. Cost implications for the national health service for involvement in the review are not expected to be significant other than that, any funding requirements will be considered during the course of the review.

Transplant Surgery: Foreigners

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2009,  Official Report, columns 259-60W, on transplant surgery: foreigners, how many of the organs used for transplants to overseas residents came from UK donors on the organ donation register; and at which units in private hospitals the transplants took place.

Ann Keen: The following table shows the organ donor register status of deceased donors whose organs were transplanted in national health service hospitals into patients recorded as resident outside the UK(1), April 1998 to March 2008. Information is not collated centrally at which units within private hospitals or NHS trusts transplants take place.
	(1) Excluding Republic of Ireland
	
		
			  Organ donor register status of deceased donors 
			   Number 
			 Registered 113 
			 Not registered 299 
			 Not recorded 219 
			 Total 631

Transplant Surgery: Payments

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures are in place to ensure that NHS patients receiving organs from  (a) cadaveric and  (b) live donation made (i) inside and (ii) outside the UK have not made payment for such organs.

Ann Keen: Section 32 of the Human Tissue Act 2004 makes it illegal to deal commercially in human material for transplantation. In effect this prohibits commercial dealing in all human material for transplants, subject to certain exceptions. Most importantly it makes trafficking in organ, tissue and cells for transplantation an offence and liable for a fine, imprisonment or both.
	The Human Tissue Act does allow for the live donor to receive reimbursement of out of pocket expenses, such as travel costs and loss of earnings that are reasonably attributable to and directly a result of an organ donation.
	All such payments must be made by a proper authority, for example, national health service commissioners or hospitals. Donors must not be reimbursed directly by the recipient nor by their family or friends. The Human Tissue Authority requires that checks are made to ensure that no other payment of any kind is made and that the donor does not make a profit from the donation.

Tunbridge Wells Homeopathic Hospital

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he plans to close the Tunbridge Wells homeopathic hospital; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope: holding answer 23 March 2009
	Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust will no longer be providing homeopathic services for patients in West Kent from 1 April 2009. This follows a detailed clinical study by NHS West Kent in 2007 which concluded that it was not in the interests of overall patient care to continue to commission this service. It is the trust's understanding that the primary care trust will in future commission homeopathic services for patients on a case by case basis where each patient's clinical need is assessed.

Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the changes in the incidence of  (a) lung and  (b) cardiovascular diseases in rural populations attributable to changes in levels of air pollution in each of the next 10 years if the Government's target of 39 TWh of renewable energy generation from biomass plant by 2020 is achieved.

Huw Irranca-Davies: I have been asked to reply.
	DEFRA analysed six different scenarios. These assessed the impacts of the level of final uptake of biomass heat in 2020, the fuels likely to be replaced, and the locations in which biomass heat likely to be used. The analysis focused on the small industrial/commercial, public and domestic sectors. It should be noted that all large combustion plant (above 20MWth) and those burning waste material are already subject to strict emission limits and are therefore not likely to have a significant adverse impact on air quality. Replacement of coal for power generation may have a beneficial effect on air quality.
	The six scenarios analysed were:
	1. Final uptake in 2020 of 52TWh of heat, using high quality units (i.e. the best currently on the market in terms of emissions), with no bias for location or fuel replaced (i.e. uptake simply followed the current geographical patterns for heat demand);
	2. Uptake of 52TWh, using medium quality units (i.e. average of units currently available on the market), no fuel or location bias;
	3. Uptake of 50TWh, using high quality units and with a fuel and location bias (i.e. uptake tends to be away from Air Quality Management Areaswhich are predominantly urbanand to replace coal and oil heating);
	4. Uptake of 50TWh, using medium quality units and with a fuel and location bias;
	5. Uptake of 38TWh, using high quality units and with a fuel and location bias;
	6. Uptake of 38TWh, using medium quality units and with a fuel and location bias.
	These scenarios were modelled on a national basis and compared with a 'business as usual' scenario, to assess the additional impact of biomass heat uptake. It was found that the impact on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide was negligible on a national basis. The impacts on concentrations of fine particles (PM10) were assessed for additional lengths of road exceeding the mandatory air quality limit values for PM10 and the costs to society of additional health impacts. The results of this analysis are presented in the following table.
	
		
			  Unit emission levels  Final uptake level in 2020  Fuel and location bias?  Additional Km of roads exceeding PM 10  limit value in 2020  Annu al social (health) cost in 2020  ( million) 
			 Medium-equates to average performance of current plant 52 TWh No 577 2,803 
			  50 TWh Yes 20 732 
			  38 TWh Yes 9 557 
			  
			 High-equates to top end performance of current plant 52 TWh No 138 731 
			  50 TWh Yes 3 189 
			  38 TWh Yes 2.5 142 
		
	
	DEFRA has made no direct assessment of the changes in incidence of lung and cardiovascular diseases. However, my Department has analysed the air quality impact of biomass heat uptake in accordance with the assumptions made in the Renewable Energy Strategy consultation document. These impacts have then been monetised, using advice from the Department of Health on the health effects of particles and economic methodologies agreed by the Interdepartmental Group on Costs and Benefits.

WOMEN AND EQUALITY

Equal Pay

Julie Morgan: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality whether her Department has evaluated research on the effects the contingency fee funding mechanism used by lawyers for equal pay claims through the employment tribunal.

Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
	The Ministry of Justice commissioned a scoping study in June 2008 into the use of 'no win no fee' covering conditional and contingency fees, in personal injury, employment and defamation cases. The objective was to advise on the feasibility of a fuller review. The scoping study has been completed and we expect to publish its report shortly.

INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009,  Official Report, column 545W, on higher education: anti-Semitism, what progress has been made in setting up the dedicated sub-group to the cross government working group against anti-Semitism; who the initial members of the sub-group will be; on what date the first meeting of the group is planned; and if he will make a statement.

David Lammy: The following organisations have been invited to an initial meeting on Tuesday 7 April:
	Union of Jewish Students
	Community Security Trust
	Board of Deputies of British Jews
	Universities UK
	GuildHE
	Equality Challenge Unit
	National Union of Students
	University and College Union
	Association of Managers of Student Services in Higher Education
	Association for Managers in Student Unions
	The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education
	Higher Education Funding Council for England
	All Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism
	Communities and Local Government (observer status)
	At this first meeting the group will agree its continuing membership and terms of reference. We see this group as playing an important role in helping to tackle anti-Semitism in higher education.

Basic Skills

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people have registered for skills accounts in the last 12 months.

Si�n Simon: The first year of skills accounts trials began in 29 September 2008 in two LSC regions, South East and East Midlands, and national trials will begin in September 2009. The aim of the regional trials is to develop and test a high quality experience for users, rather than maximise volumes. This means there are no targets for the number of individuals registering for a skills account as part of the trial. As part of the preparation for national roll-out from 2010/11 we will model expected volumes while ensuring skills accounts meet the needs of users.
	As of 20 March, a total of 10,823 individuals had opened a skills account. Of these 7,905 had done so via the Careers Advice Service, 1,864 via the web and 1,054 via one of accredited learning providers in the trial regions.

Basic Skills

Theresa May: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many hits the skills accounts website has received since it was set up.

Si�n Simon: The first year of skills accounts trials began in 29 September 2008 in two LSC regions, South East and East Midlands, and national trials will begin in September 2009. The aim of the regional trials is to develop and test a high quality experience for users, rather than maximise volumes. This means there are no targets for the number of individuals registering for a skills account as part of the trial. As part of the preparation for national roll-out from 2010/11 we will model expected volumes whilst ensuring skills accounts meet the needs of users.
	At this stage we are not collect data on the number of hits on the skills accounts website (accessed via DirectGov) as the system is continuing to develop. An evaluation of the trial will capture detailed reflections about the user experience. When development of the system is complete we will put in place ways of evaluating the frequency of visits to the website and how the tools on it are used.

Departmental Databases

Eleanor Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many  (a) records and  (b) data fields there are in the Managing Information Across Partners system.

Si�n Simon: I have been asked to reply 
	as the Minister responsible for the Learning and Skills Council.
	Managing Information Across Partners (MIAP) provides a set of services in support of the Transformational Government Agenda. It is about streamlining and improving how information on learners and learning is used within the education and training sectors so that excellent services are made available to individuals, employers and their communities.
	MIAP offers three internet-based services: a provider- facing Learner Registration Service which assigns a unique learner number to everyone over the age of 14 in education and training; a learner-facing Learner Record Service which is in development, and which uses the unique learner number to enable learner access to their lifelong learning records for the very first time; and a UK Register of Learning Providers, which supports the sharing of learning provider information and brokerage. These services are supported by best practice data sharing protocols in line with data protection legislation.
	Over 5.6 million unique learner numbers have been created. For each unique learner number, a unique learner number record is created with up to 16 data fields, of which six are mandatory.
	The UKRLP lists over 22,000 learning and training providers. These records provide details of individual training organisations, and the services they provide, along with links to other information such as inspection reports.

Departmental Training

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which training courses were  (a) available to and  (b) taken up by (i) civil servants and (ii) Ministers in his Department in the last 12 months.

Si�n Simon: The Department primarily offers a range of learning and development opportunities to employees linked to the Professional Skills for Government agenda and its business and improvement objectives. The programmes include: Leadership; Policy Development Skills; Strategic Thinking; Analysis and Use of Evidence; Programme and Project Management; Contract Management; Financial Management; People Management; and Drafting and Writing Skills. Courses can be off-the-job training, e-learning or access to a range of learning and coaching materials. Information about employee learning and development take-up is not held centrally and a search of local records could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Learning and development courses have been arranged for Ministers in the Department in the last 12 months and the following courses have been undertaken:
	Foreign language lessons
	Cabinet Committees
	European Union
	Media Training.

Further Education

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will make it his policy to issue guidance to post-16 specialist colleges on the  (a) funding available for capital projects to be undertaken by such colleges and  (b) application process for such funding.

Si�n Simon: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is responsible for the administration of the further education (FE) capital programme, which includes capital allocations to post-16 specialist colleges. The LSC is subsequently responsible for the management of the programme and for the issuing of any associated guidance.
	As we have previously announced, we asked Sir Andrew Foster to report on the background to the current situation we have with the FE capital programmewhich he is due to complete later this month.
	We need to understand how the current serious problems arose and what lessons must be learned for the future operation and delivery of the FE capital programme, particularly within the context of the new Machinery of Government arrangements.

Higher Education: Research

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the distribution of research funding maximises the potential to assist small and medium-sized science-based and manufacturing enterprises located close to research universities.

David Lammy: Research funding for universities is allocated on the basis of excellence and not proximity to businesses. And whilst there is no support specifically targeting businesses located close to research universities, Government do provide support through a range of programmes to help businesses meet the challenges they face in starting up, running and growing their operations.
	The Technology Strategy Board and its partners provide support for businesses through a number of mechanisms including collaborative R and D, which supports joint projects between business and academia; networking to help industry access knowledge and information central to innovation growth; and through knowledge transfer partnerships, which support the transfer of knowledge from academia to a business through the transfer of people.
	Innovation vouchers, announced in the 2008 Innovation Nation White Paper, are also a means to help small businesses benefit from the expertise offered by the research base. The voucher is used by the business to 'buy' services such as specialist advice from a knowledge- based institution of their choice.
	Grant for research and development, available regionally through the English regional development agencies, provides grants of up to 500,000 to help small and medium sized businesses to research and develop technologically innovative products and processes. DIUS is also working with RDAs to adopt a new national framework for proof of concept support to provide a tailored package of support that may include funding, access to facilities, networks and mentoring, and help for businesses to become investment ready.

Science: Higher Education

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps the Government are taking to increase the uptake of science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in universities by British students.

David Lammy: The Government are committed to increasing the number of young people studying science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects post-16 and in higher education. The Department is working closely with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) on STEM skills to ensure that teaching and learning of science in schools is sufficiently interesting and challenging to inspire more able pupils to pursue STEM subjects in higher education and beyond.
	DCSF is investing 140 million to support the STEM agenda in schools in England. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has undertaken a 350 million programme of work to support strategically important and vulnerable subjects which include STEM and additional funding of 75 million to support the high costs of some science subjects.

Students: Loans

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many complaints have been made against the Student Loans Company for its use of bailiffs in error in cases where former students have not defaulted on their payments in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The Student Loans Company (SLC) employs debt collectors where borrowers persistently fail to respond to SLC's attempts to contact them by telephone or letter. SLC does not employ bailiffs for the purposes of debt collection. However, if SLC's debt collectors also fail and SLC proceeds to litigate, the courts engage bailiffs to serve papers or to enforce county court judgments.
	The SLC does not maintain statistics for this category of complaint. Generic complaints about the use of debt collectors by the SLC amounted to 37 cases in the last 12 months, which is a small percentage of the cases managed by debt collectors.
	In all cases, the borrower was in default when the debt collector approached them. The only reported exception was the case of a borrower who appeared to be in default but was due to have the repayments met by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) under the now closed Repayment of Teacher Loans Scheme.

Work Experience

Robert Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills 
	(1)  when he expects the national internship scheme to commence;
	(2)  which body will administer payments to businesses participating in the national internship scheme;
	(3)  pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2009,  Official Report, columns 1165-6W, on work experience, what further progress has been made on implementing the national internship scheme; which organisations have agreed to take part; how many extra internships will be available at these organisations in 2009 compared to 2008; and how many places will be available in each local authority area.

David Lammy: The new internship programme will take effect from the autumn of 2009, and will offer graduates the opportunity both to apply their learning in a working situation and to build the work-ready skills they will need for permanent employment. We are still working with stakeholders to finalise the details of the programme but expect to make a further announcement about our plans in the next few weeks.
	The Government are committed to helping new graduates into work in these challenging economic times and internships are one option in a range of opportunities available to those who are unable immediately to find a suitable job.

Young People: North West

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what proportion of  (a) males and  (b) females aged between 18 and 21 years were in (i) education, (ii) employment and (iii) training in each local authority area in the North West in each of the last five years.

Si�n Simon: Estimates of 18 to 21-year-olds in education, employment or training are calculated using the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The sample sizes on the LFS for small geographical regions, such as local authority, are too small to make robust estimates. However, we can estimate the proportion of 18-year-olds in education, employment or training from information collected by the Connexions service. This is given as follows.
	
		
			  Proportion of 18-year-olds in education, employment or training 
			  Percentage 
			   Education  Employment  Training  EET 
			 England 63.4 21.3 8.0 92.7 
			 North West 60.8 20.2 10.1 91.1 
			  
			 Cheshire 63.0 25.5 6.1 94.6 
			 Warrington 58.8 26.1 7.4 92.3 
			 Cumbria 53.4 24.1 16.2 93.7 
			 Bolton 55.0 23.0 10.9 88.8 
			 Bury 67.8 18.4 6.8 93.0 
			 Manchester 69.5 13.2 5.8 88.5 
			 Oldham 65.5 15.4 11.1 92.0 
			 Rochdale 61.3 21.4 9.6 92.3 
			 Salford 57.6 24.7 9.0 91.3 
			 Stockport 69.7 16.2 6.2 92.1 
			 Trafford 73.0 12.7 7.6 93.3 
			 Tameside 61.6 19.9 11.2 92.7 
			 Wigan 55.3 21.2 12.4 88.9 
			 Halton 48.3 25.9 8.9 83.1 
			 Knowsley 48.8 21.2 13.6 83.7 
			 Liverpool 56.4 18.1 12.4 87.0 
			 Sefton 64.1 19.1 7.4 90.6 
			 St. Helens 61.6 17.2 10.2 89.0 
			 Wirral 58.7 20.9 10.5 90.1 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 62.6 17.7 9.4 89.8 
			 Blackpool 63.5 18.7 8.5 90.8 
			 Lancashire 59.1 20.9 12.5 92.5

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Air Pollution

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to paragraph 4.6.14 of the UK Renewable Energy Strategy consultation document, what recent assessment he has made of the potential cumulative effect on air quality of fine particles and nitrogen dioxide emissions from the future large-scale deployment of biomass appliances or plant.

Huw Irranca-Davies: I have been asked to reply.
	DEFRA analysed six different scenarios. These assessed the impacts of the level of final uptake of biomass heat in 2020, the fuels likely to be replaced, and the locations in which biomass heat likely to be used. The analysis focused on the small industrial/commercial, public and domestic sectors. It should be noted that all large combustion plant (above 20MWth) and those burning waste material are already subject to strict emission limits and are therefore not likely to have a significant adverse impact on air quality. Replacement of coal for power generation may have a beneficial effect on air quality.
	The six scenarios analysed were:
	1. Final uptake in 2020 of 52TWh of heat, using high quality units (i.e. the best currently on the market in terms of emissions), with no bias for location or fuel replaced (i.e. uptake simply followed the current geographical patterns for heat demand);
	2. Uptake of 52TWh, using medium quality units (i.e. average of units currently available on the market), no fuel or location bias;
	3. Uptake of 50TWh, using high quality units and with a fuel and location bias (i.e. uptake tends to be away from Air Quality Management Areaswhich are predominantly urbanand to replace coal and oil heating);
	4. Uptake of 50TWh, using medium quality units and with a fuel and location bias;
	5. Uptake of 38TWh, using high quality units and with a fuel and location bias;
	6. Uptake of 38TWh, using medium quality units and with a fuel and location bias.
	These scenarios were modelled on a national basis and compared with a 'business as usual' scenario, to assess the additional impact of biomass heat uptake. It was found that the impact on concentrations of nitrogen dioxide was negligible on a national basis. The impacts on concentrations of fine particles (PM10) were assessed for additional lengths of road exceeding the mandatory air quality limit values for PM10 and the costs to society of additional health impacts. The results of this analysis are presented in the following table.
	
		
			  Unit emission levels  Final uptake level in 2020  Fuel and  location bias?  Additional Km of roads exceeding PM 10  limit value in 2020  Annu al social (health) cost in 2020  ( million) 
			 Medium -equates to average performance of current plant 52 TWh No 577 2,803 
			  50 TWh Yes 20 732 
			  38 TWh Yes 9 557 
			  
			 High-equates to top end performance of current plant 52 TWh No 138 731 
			  50 TWh Yes 3 189 
			  38 TWh Yes 2.5 142 
		
	
	DEFRA has made no direct assessment of the changes in incidence of lung and cardiovascular diseases. However, my Department has analysed the air quality impact of biomass heat uptake in accordance with the assumptions made in the Renewable Energy Strategy consultation document. These impacts have then been monetised, using advice from the Department of Health on the health effects of particles and economic methodologies agreed by the Interdepartmental Group on Costs and Benefits.

Carbon Emissions

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent estimate he has made of the contribution of low-carbon industries to the  (a) UK and  (b) EU economy; and what assessment he has made of likely changes in the level of that contribution in the next 10 years.

Joan Ruddock: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has recently (6 March 2009) published a report by Innovas Solutions Ltd., titled Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services: an industry analysis. The full report is available at:
	www.berr.gov.uk
	This report estimated that the size of the 'low carbon and environmental goods and services sector' in the UK in 2007-08 was 107 billion, representing around 7 per cent. of UK economy.
	The market value of this sector is forecast to grow to 154.85 billion in 2014-15. This represents an increase (in real terms) of 45 per cent. of the total market value by 2015. No forecast of growth beyond 2015 has been made.
	The market for the 'low carbon and environmental goods and services sector' in Europe in 2007-08 is estimated to be 829 billion. This figure represents Innovas' definition of Europe according to their regional grouping of countries, and is not limited to the EU economy. No comparable estimates have been made for the EU economy, or for the growth rates of the European low carbon and environmental goods and services sector.

Departmental Buildings

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much was spent by his Department on  (a) furniture and  (b) renovation and decoration for departmental buildings since its establishment.

Mike O'Brien: The Department for Energy and Climate Change was established on 3 October 2008. The Department is currently moving to a single office building. By the end of the present financial year, the Department is expected to spend a total of  (a) 301,626 on furniture and  (b) 1,117,500 on renovation and decoration. Nothing has been spent by agencies.
	All figures are exclusive of VAT.

Departmental Empty Property

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the change in the annual cost to his Department of maintaining the empty public buildings owned by his Department and its predecessor as a result of the April 2008 changes to empty property rate relief.

Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not yet own any buildings.

Departmental Information Officers

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the average cost to his Department of employing a press and media officer is.

Mike O'Brien: The average cost of employing a press officer in the Department of Energy and Climate Change is 39,869 per annum (salary plus national insurance and superannuation).

Departmental NDPBs

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the Answer of 4 November 2008,  Official Report, columns 453-4W, on the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, by what date he expects the discussions on the role of the bodies referred to to be completed.

Mike O'Brien: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Office of Nuclear Development, Sustainable Development Commission and Office of Climate Change all have a clear role to play in DECC achieving its objectives for energy and climate change.
	The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body set up under the Energy Act 2004 to ensure that the UK's civil public nuclear legacy sites are decommissioned and cleaned up efficiently and effectively.
	The Office for Nuclear Development was created to facilitate new nuclear investment in the UK. Its aims are to enable operators to build and operate new nuclear power stations in the UK from the earliest possible date and to enable new nuclear to make the fullest contribution it is capable of, with no public subsidy, and with unnecessary obstacles removed; to build and maintain the UK as the best market in the world for companies to do business in nuclear power; and to create and support a globally competitive UK supply chain, focusing on high value added activities to take advantage of the UK and worldwide nuclear programme. OND brings together the Government teams and resources focused on facilitating new nuclear investment in the UK and providing industry with a single point of contact.
	The Office of Climate Change is now part of DECC but retains the capacity to undertake cross-cutting projects and is funded by contributing Departments across Whitehall.
	The Sustainable Development Commission is an independent adviser to Government on sustainable development. Its role has not been affected by the creation of DECC and my Department will continue to benefit from its advice.

Departmental Public Appointments

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department holds on the number of persons appointed to executive positions in bodies for which his Department has responsibility who previously had careers in the banking industry.

Mike O'Brien: Responsibility for most recruitment is delegated to the Department's different business units and as a consequence there is no central record of persons with previous careers in the banking industry. To compile such a record would incur a disproportionate cost for the Department.

Departmental Reorganisation

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change by what date he expects all of his Department's staff to be based in his Department's offices.

Mike O'Brien: The first phase of moves of DECC staff into 3 Whitehall Place (the Department's London office) is currently under way. Planning for the second phase is currently under way and it is not yet possible to specify a date for the completion of the moves but it is expected to be during the summer. DECC staff are already in residence in Atholl House, the Department's Scottish office.

Departmental Responsibilities

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for what public service agreements his Department has responsibility.

Mike O'Brien: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has responsibility for public service agreement 27Lead the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change.

Energy Supply

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will bring forward a programme of measures to provide security of supply of energy in the UK during the period 2010 to 2030.

Mike O'Brien: Government works to ensure there is a stable regulatory framework within which the private sector can invest to deliver secure and reliable energy supplies. Government action to ensure security of supply includes: reform of the planning and consents regime, promoting energy efficiency, creating the necessary framework to facilitate a diverse mix of low carbon sources of supply, and promoting liberalised energy markets globally.

Energy: Research

Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his Department's research and development budget in support of research into clean energy is in the next 12 months.

David Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department for Innovation Universities and Skills (DIUS) provides funding to the Technology Strategy Board and the Research Councils to support research and development.
	The Research Councils' planned expenditure on energy research and related training is expected to exceed 300 million over the period 2008-11.
	The Technology Strategy Board has a current portfolio of 76 collaborative projects (worth ca 140 million) on emerging low carbon energy technologies. Following two recent calls in Carbon Abatement Technologies and Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technologies, further funding will be committed in the next 12 months. It is also expanding its portfolio in areas relating to the low carbon agenda through a range of initiatives including Innovation Platformsone focused on Low Carbon Vehicles is coordinating over 100 million of public sector support to accelerate the market introduction of ultra low carbon vehicles.
	In addition, DIUS has committed to provide up to 50 million pa (through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Technology Strategy Board) to the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), to be matched by industry partners. ETI is establishing a portfolio of development projects in low carbon energy technologies.
	The Department of Energy and Climate Change also provides some funding through the Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF) for clean energy research. The annual budget for the ETF and its component programmes, including the Carbon Trust, will be agreed in due course.

Forests: Carbon Emissions

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding he has allocated to reduce levels of deforestation for the purposes of reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in each of the next 10 years.

Joan Ruddock: The Climate talks in Bali in December 2007 recognised that reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) should be part of a post-2012 climate deal. The Bali Action Plan paves the way for the development of incentives to reduce emissions from both wholesale deforestation and more gradual damage, and to consider how to reward the sustainable management of forests ahead of the 15(th) Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in 2009.
	We are negotiating options for financing with our partners in the run up to the Copenhagen agreement. The EU recognised at the Spring Council (19-20 March 2009) that significant domestic and external sources of finance, both private and public, will be required to finance mitigation and adaptation actions, particularly in the most vulnerable developing countries. The UK, as part of the European Union, will take on its fair share of financing such actions in developing countries, and is examining credible and innovative options for raising significant volumes of finance. The European Council will discuss these issues in more detail at its June meeting, following further consultation with other developed and developing countries.
	However, in advance of internationally agreed mechanisms, it is necessary to test approaches and build capacity in developing countries. At the climate change negotiations in Poznan last December the UK announced up to 100 million to support such work. This is in addition to a 15 million contribution to the World Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility which assists developing countries in working out how they can participate in and benefit from evolving incentive mechanisms for avoided deforestation. The UK has also committed 60 million to help reduce deforestation and poverty in the Congo Basin. The Congo Basin Forest Fund, launched in June 2008, will support transformative and innovative proposals from the countries of the Congo Basin and civil society to slow the rate of deforestation.

Forests: Carbon Emissions

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration he has given to the merits of establishing schemes for forest protection as a measure of reducing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before  (a) 2012,  (b) 2020 and  (c) 2030.

Joan Ruddock: The Climate talks in Bali in December 2007 recognised that reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) should be part of a post-2012 climate deal. The Bali Action Plan paves the way for the development of incentives to reduce emissions from both wholesale deforestation and more gradual damage, and to consider how to reward the sustainable management of forests ahead of the 15(th) Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen in 2009.
	We know that reducing deforestation will be expensive; available estimates suggest it will cost in the range of 10 billion to 20 billion a year to halve deforestation by 2030. But the evidence also suggests that the benefits of reducing deforestation will be many times greater than the costs. The Poznan Forestry Statement made in December last year agreed that:
	financial flows to support Reductions in Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) efforts must be adequate, predictable and sustainable, and results based, with developed countries contributing significantly.
	The UK is in the process of discussing options for financing mechanisms for forestry, although this must occur in the context of discussions on broader climate change finance. The UK as part of the European Union will take on its fair share of financing such actions in developing countries, and is examining credible and innovative options for raising significant volumes of finance. The European Council will discuss these issues in more detail at its June meeting, following further consultation with other developed and developing countries.
	Pre-2012 support for capacity building will be necessary and funding for early demonstration projects will prepare the groundwork for later investment. We are undertaking a study to examine the options for frontloading finance for forestry and options for a financing mechanism that uses public funding to mobilise substantial private investment into sustainable forest management, leading to REDD+ (enhancement of forest carbon stocks) and co-benefits such as protecting biodiversity and eradicating poverty. We hope to be able to consult on the outcomes of this in April or May this year.
	However, sustainable funding at the scale required to tackle deforestation effectively will be unlikely to be provided through public funding alone, particularly in the longer-term. Ultimately, we need to build a mechanism which is self-sustaining, and the carbon market seems to offer the best opportunity for this. Therefore, limited access to the carbon market from 2012 to 2020 could offer an important way of working towards full market access in the longer-term and would send a strong signal to investors. We welcome the European Commission's leadership and the December Environment Council Conclusions which suggests that a new market mechanism for forest credits should be established on a trial basis and deforestation credits could be valid for Government compliance with post 2012 commitments.

Green Jobs

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the Government's definition of a green job is.

Joan Ruddock: There is no single definition of a 'green job' because we do not believe that some jobs should be green and others not. On 6 March we published our vision of a low carbon economy for the UK. Achieving that vision means that every job should be a green job. Every plumber should know how to fit a biomass boiler, and every welder should be equipped to work in construction of green technologies. This is not about creating a wholly separate part of our economy, but about allowing people from all sectors to benefit from the move to low carbon by developing and using the core skills for their job. A full Low Carbon Industrial Strategy will be published in the summer. By continuing efforts to build a low carbon economy we will create the jobs and growth we need now. Turnover in the low carbon and environmental goods and services sector, which already employs 880,000 people in the UK, could rise to over 150 billion and employment could rise to 1.3 million by 2015.

Low Carbon Buildings Programme

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of  (a) the finances and  (b) the international competitiveness of the UK renewables sector of the withdrawal of the Low Carbon Buildings Programme Phase 2.

Mike O'Brien: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) Phase 2 has been open since January 2007 and is due to close in June 2009. To date we have committed 33.1 million of the 50 million budget; however, a significant amount of work will be completed for the period through to mid 2010.
	We have recently seen a significant increase in solar PV applications and the 24.5 million funding for this technology has been fully committed. In order to therefore manage LCBP Phase 2 through to June 2009 we have advised new solar PV applicants that applications will be put on hold while we consider potential options to extend solar PV funding. However, the programme is still open to solar thermal, biomass, micro wind and ground source heat pump projects. We would like to see eligible organisations wishing to install these technologies making maximum use of the grants programme for the three months remaining.
	We are currently giving careful consideration to the transition from grant funding and other incentives to the proposed small scale electricity feed-in tariff and renewable heat support mechanism. A feed-in tariffs (FITs) mechanism for small-scale, low-carbon electricity generation is currently being developed. We will consult on the details of the scheme this summer and FITs will be in place in April 2010. A mechanism for a Renewable Heat Incentive is also being developed and the details of this scheme will also be consulted on. We intend to have the RHI in place in April 2011.
	As part of its Manufacturing Strategy the Government has set up the Office of Renewable Energy Deployment. This Office will help deliver the necessary step-change in the deployment of renewable energy in the UK to meet the 2020 target.
	These measures, among many others, should help the renewable sector to continue to develop in the UK and to take decisions on international developments.

Natural Gas: Imports

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effect of the recent dispute between the Russian and Ukrainian Governments on UK gas supplies.

Mike O'Brien: Russia's decision to cut gas supplies to Ukraine had no direct impact on gas supply in the UK which is estimated to receive less than 2 per cent. of its gas directly from Russia.

Nuclear Power: Safety

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which independent organisations advise the Government on nuclear safety.

Mike O'Brien: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises the Government on nuclear safety. In addition to its own experts, the HSE is able to call on many external sources of advice on nuclear safety.

Oil: Reserves

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2009,  Official Report, columns 1239-40W, on oil: reserves, what quantities of the 11.1 million tonnes of oil are stored in which countries.

Mike O'Brien: Under EU Council Directive 2006/67/EC, member states of the European Union (EU) can hold stocks of petroleum products on behalf of each other in order to meet their oil stocking obligation.
	The UK has bilateral agreements with Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden where they can hold stocks on behalf of UK companies and UK companies can hold stocks on their behalf. The UK also has an agreement with New Zealand under which UK companies may hold stocks on behalf of the New Zealand Government.
	Bilateral agreements are negotiated in advance for each calendar quarter. The following table shows the net stocks held under bilateral agreements between January to March 2009; This shows that of the 11.1 million tonnes of oil, 2.5 million are held overseas.
	
		
			  Net stocks held under bilateral agreements in QI 2009 
			 Country Volume (million tonnes) 
			 Belgium 0.215 
			 Denmark 0.259 
			 France 0.088 
			 Ireland -0.307 
			 Netherlands 1.536 
			 New-Zealand -0.035 
			 Sweden 0.745

Renewables Advisory Board

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding the Government expects to provide to the Renewables Advisory Board in each of the next five financial years.

Mike O'Brien: The Department does not set budgets on a five-yearly basis.
	The Renewables Advisory Board budget for 2009-10 is currently subject to the business planning round process in the Department.

Warm Front Scheme

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy to extend the Warm Front Scheme to vulnerable households not in receipt of state benefits.

Joan Ruddock: The Department is currently looking closely at all aspects of the scheme including eligibility. Any alterations in the existing criteria will be announced in due course.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he plans to answer Question 252857, tabled on 26 January 2009, on the letters of 19 November and 30 December 2008 from the hon. Member for Forest of Dean, on the Oakenhill opencast coal site.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 25 February 2009
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 March 2009,  Official Report, column 1260W.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Central Office of Information: Complaints

Nick Hurd: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many complaints against Central Office of Information advertising have been upheld by the Advertising Standards Authority since 1997.

Liam Byrne: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.
	 Letter from Peter Buchanan, dated 16 March 2009:
	on complaints made to the ASA on COI advertising.
	The Central Office of Information (COI) has had no complaint made or upheld against to date.
	The COI work on advertising campaigns on behalf of other Government Departments.

Central Office of Information: Film

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many public information films have been produced by the Central Office of Information in each year since 1997; and how much was spent on such films in each year.

Liam Byrne: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.
	 Letter from Peter Buchanan, dated 16 March 2009:
	on how many public information films have been produced by the Central Office of Information in each year since 1997; and how much was spent on such films in each year.
	The information requested is given in the table below.
	
		
			  Year  Number  Budget () 
			 1997 24 n/a 
			 1998 16 n/a 
			 1999 23 n/a 
			 2000 23 n/a 
			 2001 20 n/a 
			 2002 20 900,226.52 
			 2003 27 1,308,038.30 
			 2004 30 1,830,891.50 
			 2005 8 297,273.93 
			 2006 4 165,265.27 
			 2007 13 714,283.25 
			 2008 26 1,439,706.50

Departmental Energy

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  what steps have been taken by  (a) his Department,  (b) its agency and  (c) the Prime Minister's Office to improve the thermal efficiency of their buildings in the last 12 months;
	(2)  what recent progress his Department has made towards the Government's target of increasing its energy efficiency per square metre of the Government Estate by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000 levels; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: The Prime Minister's Office forms an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
	The Cabinet Office is undertaking a number of measures to contribute to the Government's target of increasing its energy efficiency per square metre of the estate by 15 per cent. by 2010, relative to 1999-2000. There are also currently a number of projects underway to improve the thermal efficiency of the Department's buildings. These include the installation of secondary glazing and additional insulation into the roofs, attic spaces and the interior faces of external walls in a number of the Cabinet Office's principal buildings. These projects are currently ongoing and subject to future funding.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much capital spending the Cabinet Office plans to bring forward to  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Kevin Brennan: The Cabinet Office has no present plans to change any existing capital expenditure plans for 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Departmental Publications

Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many copies of the document Working togetherPublic services on your side have been printed; in which public service delivery outlets it will be available; which non-governmental organisations were consulted in preparation of the document; and what the printing costs for the document were.

Liam Byrne: Working Together: public services on your side builds on engagement with non-governmental organisations since the publication of a Cabinet Office paper published last summer, Excellence and Fairness: receiving world class public services. This engagement included discussions with representatives from trade unions, businesses, the third sector and professional associations.
	1,800 copies of the paper have been printed. In addition, a dedicated website has been established that was visited by around 3,500 on the first day alone. A dedicated page has been established on Directgov setting out a summary of proposals for the public. Printed or electronic copies are being sent to leaders of major services. Copies can also be obtained from the Cabinet Office. The cost of printing was 7,609.

Economic Situation

Grant Shapps: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what  (a) summits,  (b) conferences and  (c) seminars his Department has hosted since January 2008 at which a primary subject of discussion was the effect of the economic situation on matters within his Department's responsibility.

Liam Byrne: Units within the Cabinet Office use conferences and other types of events as one of a number of ways of engaging with stakeholders to support a range of Cabinet Office policies and activities.
	The Cabinet Office does not keep a central record of summits, conferences and seminars and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Government Departments: Pay

Francis Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  what the wage bill of each Government department was in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) the most recent year for which figures are available;
	(2)  what the wage bill of each executive agency was in  (a) 1996-97 and  (b) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
	Information on central government pay spending is published in Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) 2008 at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pesa0809.
	Information on individual agency paybills is not held centrally; agency paybills are included within the paybills of their parent departments.

Hospitality Received by Departmental Board Members

Francis Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library a copy of the Cabinet Office's  (a) document entitled Hospitality Received by Departmental Board Members and  (b) List of Ministers' financial interests.

Liam Byrne: Copies of both documents can be found in the Library of the House or on the Cabinet Office website at:
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and_ethics/publications.aspx
	and
	www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/propriety_and_ethics/news.aspx
	respectively.

News Distribution Service: Press Releases

Don Foster: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many press releases the News Distribution Service has issued in each year since 1997.

Liam Byrne: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.
	 Letter from Peter Buchanan, dated 16 March 2009:
	on numbers of News Distribution (NDS) press releases.
	The Central Office of Information's News Distribution Service distributes press releases on behalf of the Departments and maintains a record of press releases since 1997 at:
	http://nds.coi.gov.uk/search/default.asp.

Personal Income

Roger Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the average annual income of  (a) an urban and  (b) a rural household was in each region in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated March 2009:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average annual income of (a) an urban and (b) a rural household was in each region in each of the last three years. (266451)
	This information is not available from statistical surveys or administrative sources held centrally.

PR Week

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many copies of  PR Week are purchased each week by the Media Monitoring Unit.

Liam Byrne: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Central Office of Information. I have asked the chief executive to reply.
	 Letter from Peter Buchanan, dated 16 March 2009:
	on how many copies of  PR Week are purchased each week by the Media Monitoring Unit (MMU).
	I can confirm that the MMU purchase one copy per week.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Community Relations

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the written answer by Baroness Andrews of 9 March 2009,  Official Report,  House of Lords, WA212-13, on the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund, if her Department will adopt a policy requiring all local authorities that have received additional funding from it to prevent violent extremism through the non-ring-fenced area-based grant to report annually  (a) to which community groups and individuals they have allocated funding and  (b) on the work they have undertaken and how they plan to monitor its effectiveness.

Sadiq Khan: Funding has been provided to local authorities through the area based granta non-ring fenced grant fund which allows local authorities to decide the most effective and efficient routes to invest their resources for the delivery of local priorities.
	Authorities are measured on the outcomes they achieve using this funding through the national indicator set.
	All authorities, including those who have received area-based grant funding in support of their work to prevent violent extremism, must therefore report to Government annually against national indicator 35, an indicator in the national indicator set which measures progress in building resilience to violent extremism. Work to prevent violent extremism is included in the comprehensive area assessment process, led by the Audit Commission, which assesses how well local services are working together to improve the quality of life for local people.
	We continue to work closely with local authorities to deliver this agenda and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons on 17 March, copied to the hon. Member for Wycombe (Mr. Goodman), agreeing to provide information about the groups that local authorities are working with.

Community Relations: Islam

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will commission research into allegations of physical violence against people attending mosques in England and Wales.

Alan Campbell: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government take all allegations of physical violence seriously. However there are currently no plans to commission work in this area.

Departmental Art Works

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which works of art from the Government Art Collection each Minister in her Department has selected for display in a private office.

Sadiq Khan: The works of art selected are as follows:
	
		
			   Title 
			  Right hon. Margaret Beckett  
			 Augustus John Nude Girl Standing with Both Arms Outstretched 
			 Augustus John Study of Female Nude Standing 
			 Augustus John Study of Female Nude Standing 
			 Augustus John Study of Female Nude Seated 
			 Augustus John Reclining Female Nude 
			   
			  Right hon. John Healey  
			 Thomas Dobbin Down, Down 
			 Bob McClelland Harpurhey, Winter 
			 Glen Baxter Mr Unwin often gave me advice on how to distract the bowler 
			 Edward Bawden Coal Exchange 
			 John Thirsk Wainhouse Tower, Halifax, Yorkshire 
			 Zenon Zamojski Slum Clearance 
			   
			  Baroness Andrews  
			 Edward Ardizzone The Boat to Greenwich 
			 Tim Mara Shot Silk 
			 Robert Tavener Downs and Water Meadows 
			 Robert Tavener Old Barn and Farm, Tenterden 
			   
			  Iain Wright  
			 Jennifer Dickson Eve 
			 Bridget Riley Blaze IV 
			 George Balmer Hartlepool 
			 Alan Green Black over Red 
			 Fanchon Frohlich Zodiacal Stream

Departmental Buildings

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what  (a) grade II,  (b) grade II* and  (c) grade I listed buildings have been owned by her Department in each of the last three years.

Sadiq Khan: Communities and Local Government has held responsibility for two freehold Grade II* listed buildings. They are Old Burlington House and New Burlington House situated in Piccadilly, London.

Departmental Public Appointments

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which former  (a) hon. Members who left Parliament since 1997 and  (b) Members of the House of Lords from each party have been appointed to positions on public bodies within her Department's responsibility; and who made each appointment.

Sadiq Khan: This information is not held centrally. Information on board membership and remuneration is published in individual bodies' annual reports and accounts.

Departmental Recruitment

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2009,  Official Report, column 1689W, on departmental recruitment, what estimate she has made of the annual salary cost of the new  (a) permanent,  (b) temporary and  (c) agency staff recruited by her Department in each year since 2005-06.

Sadiq Khan: The estimated annual salary cost of  (a) permanent,  (b) temporary and  (c) agency staff recruited in each year since 2005-06 is as follow:
	
		
			
			  Staff Type  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09  Grand Total 
			 Permanent Staff 1,358,118 1,665,935 2,876,301 2,732,144 8,632,498 
			 Short Term Contracts 815,913 876,215 894,944 1,222,423 3,809,495 
			 Agency Staff 2,126,139 3,130,540 5,774,867 6,222,138 17,253,684 
			 Grand Total 4,300,170 5,672,690 9,546,112 10,176,705 29,695,677

Digital Britain

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the level of affordability of individual access to broadband internet which will be achieved under the Digital Britain plan.

Patrick McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
	This Department has made no specific estimate of the level of affordability of individual access to broadband internet which will be achieved under the Digital Britain plan.
	Under Digital Britain, we will be looking at the costs and benefits while setting out our plans for the level of service which we believe should be universal under the Universal Service Commitment.
	Currently, telcos and ISPs offer broadband packages with a range of options costing from under 20 a month at the lower end to over 40 a month at the higher end.

Empty Property

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty dwellings management orders have been enforced in each local authority area to date.

Iain Wright: To date, 22 Interim Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) have been approved by the Residential Property Tribunal Service (RPTS) since the legislation came into effect in April 2006. However, local authorities claim that in many cases the threat of an EDMO has been sufficient to make owners take action to bring long-term empty homes back into use.
	We are confident that the legislation is beginning to work well. We always intended that the legislation should be used only as a last resort where other measures have proved unsuccessful. We want to encourage voluntary re-occupation of empty homes but this can only work well where there is realistic compulsion to back them up. EDMOs provide this compulsion and should therefore be a key component of a comprehensive empty property strategy.
	
		
			  Local authority  Number of  i nterim EDMOs authorised 
			 London Borough of Bromley 1 
			 Carlisle District Council 1 
			 London Borough of Hammersmith And Fulham 1 
			 London Borough of Hounslow 2 
			 London Borough of Lewisham 5 
			 New Forest District Council 1 
			 Norwich City Council 5 
			 Peterborough City Council 2 
			 South Norfolk District Council 1 
			 Staffordshire Moorlands District Council 1 
			 Swale Borough Council 1 
			 Wychavon District Council 1 
			 Total 22

Equity

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what her Department's net spending on equity loan schemes in each region was in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what her Department's net spending on shared ownership schemes was in each region in each of the last three years.

Iain Wright: The following table shows spend through the housing corporation on shared equity and shared ownership over the previous three years by region.
	
		
			  Shared Equity spend by region 
			million 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 North East 0.10 0.00 0.32 
			 North West 5.79 1.84 3.92 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 1.58 0.94 2.28 
			 East Midlands 8.36 1.33 1.65 
			 West Midlands 16.81 3.60 2.98 
			 Eastern 38.69 8.61 12.65 
			 London 164.09 44.63 21.72 
			 South East 69.89 27.55 29.01 
			 South West 8.51 2.78 9.01 
		
	
	
		
			  Shared Ownership spend by region 
			 m illion 
			   2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 North East 1.83 3.13 2.23 
			 North West 18.37 18.38 16.85 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 3.87 9.54 11.03 
			 East Midlands 14.01 16.76 20.85 
			 West Midlands 10.01 16.97 20.35 
			 Eastern 13.48 18.50 24.44 
			 London 116.19 167.03 141.24 
			 South East 40.42 56.42 59.00 
			 South West 10.63 13.95 20.96

Fire Services

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many road traffic accidents the Fire and Rescue Service attended in each  (a) fire authority area and  (b) region in each of the last three years.

Sadiq Khan: The number of road traffic incidents attended by each Fire and Rescue Service for the last years are shown in the table:
	
		
			  Road traffic incidents attended by Fire and Rescue Services, England, 2005-06 to 2007-08 
			  FRS area  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			  England( 1) 42,308 40,707 38,867 
			 
			  North East 1,725 1,667 1,815 
			 Cleveland 500 468 453 
			 County Durham and Darlington 440 451 451 
			 Northumberland 282 260 307 
			 Tyne and Wear 503 488 604 
			 
			  North West 4,537 3,891 3,418 
			 Cheshire 885 721 490 
			 Cumbria 394 360 339 
			 Greater Manchester 1,247 1,092 992 
			 Lancashire 923 816 837 
			 Merseyside 1,088 902 760 
			 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 3,718 3,660 3,527 
			 Humberside 701 694 653 
			 North Yorkshire 688 705 709 
			 South Yorkshire 1,156 1,152 1,072 
			 West Yorkshire 1,173 1,109 1,093 
			 
			  East Midlands 3,742 3,873 3,846 
			 Derbyshire 717 787 778 
			 Leicestershire 928 961 992 
			 Lincolnshire 692 725 723 
			 Northamptonshire 662 647 637 
			 Nottinghamshire 743 753 716 
			 
			  West Midlands 5,118 4,886 4,923 
			 Hereford and Worcester 745 747 810 
			 Shropshire 357 336 344 
			 Staffordshire 977 970 977 
			 Warwickshire 631 613 609 
			 West Midlands 2,408 2,220 2,183 
			 
			  East of England 5,555 5,584 5,464 
			 Bedfordshire and Luton 476 439 482 
			 Cambridgeshire 897 762 779 
			 Essex 1,634 1,617 1,721 
			 Hertfordshire 607 556 682 
			 Norfolk 1,436 1,671 1,350 
			 Suffolk 505 539 450 
			 
			  London 5,501 5,318 5,238 
			 
			  South East( 1) 7,451 7,101 5,935 
			 Buckinghamshire 627 605 620 
			 East Sussex 738 731 727 
			 Hampshire(1) 1,447 1,370 (2) 
			 Isle of Wight 126 100 109 
			 Kent 1,323 1,268 1,190 
			 Oxfordshire 436 458 455 
			 Royal Berkshire 638 660 611 
			 Surrey 1,197 997 1,285 
			 West Sussex 919 912 938 
			 
			  South West 4,961 4,727 4,701 
			 Avon 832 761 714 
			 Cornwall 591 519 483 
			 Devon(3) 1,140 1,126  
			 Devon and Somerset(3)   1,645 
			 Dorset 547 588 619 
			 Gloucestershire 606 544 572 
			 Somerset(3) 610 499  
			 Wiltshire 635 690 668 
			 (1) Data for 2007-08 not provided by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (2) NP (3) Prior to 2007-08 Devon and Somerset existed as separate Fire and Rescue Services

Home Ownership Incentive Schemes

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many HomeBuy agents have taken part in the First Time Buyers Initiative; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: All 23 of the current Government appointed HomeBuy agents have engaged with the First Time Buyers' initiative. The Government have appointed a single National HomeBuy Agent to administer and manage the post sales process. For example providing post sales advice to applicants, collection of fees etc.
	Following a competitive tendering exercise to ensure continued high levels of service and value for money, the Homes and Communities Agency recently published a list of 15 organisations which will act as Local HomeBuy Agents across England from 1 April 2009. These HomeBuy agents will be required to engage with the First Time Buyers' initiative.

Homebuy Scheme

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many people have applied for assistance via the New Build HomeBuy scheme; how many applications have been granted; and what the average level of support has been;
	(2)  how many people have applied for assistance via the Rent to HomeBuy scheme; how many applications have been granted; and what the average level of support has been.

Margaret Beckett: Information on applications for the new build and rent to homebuy schemes is not held centrally. Applications are processed and monitored by homebuy agents (appointed housing associations).
	Government support are provided in the form of grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency's National Affordable Housing programme for the building of the homes. The average grant per unit for rent to homebuy allocations so far this year to end of February 2009 is 31,000 and for new build homebuy in the same period is 26,000.

Homes and Communities Agency

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) people and  (b) full-time equivalent staff members are employed by (i) the Tenants Service Authority and (ii) the Homes and Communities Agency.

Margaret Beckett: The numbers of staff currently employed by both the Tenants Service Authority (TSA) and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) as permanent staff and as full-time equivalent are shown in the following table.
	
		
			   Permanent staff  Full-time equivalent 
			 TSA 254 245 
			 HCA 821 789

Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) homes and  (b) households there were in each region in each year since 1997.

Iain Wright: Estimates of the total dwelling stock and households by region for 1997 to 2007 are given in the table.
	A dwelling is defined, in line with the 2001 Census definition, as a self-contained unit of accommodation. Therefore a dwelling can consist of one self-contained household space or two or more non-self-contained household spaces at the same address. Total dwelling stock includes vacant dwellings and second homes.
	Household estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey. A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people who have the accommodation as their only or main residence and (for a group) either share at least one meal a day or share living accommodation.
	
		
			  Thousand 
			  At 31 March  England  North East  North West  Yorks and the Humber  East Midlands  West Midlands  East  London  South East  South West 
			  Dwelling stock   
			 1997 20,622 1,100 2,890 2,105 1,732 2,170 2,227 3,026 3,280 2,093 
			 1998 20,778 1,104 2,905 2,120 1,748 2,183 2,249 3,041 3,310 2,117 
			 1999 20,927 1,108 2,920 2,132 1,764 2,197 2,270 3,059 3,338 2,139 
			 2000 21,075 1,112 2,934 2,144 1,782 2,211 2,290 3,074 3,366 2,161 
			 2001 21,207 1,115 2,945 2,155 1,797 2,225 2,308 3,090 3,392 2,181 
			 2002 21,337 1,118 2,955 2,165 1,812 2,236 2,326 3,106 3,417 2,203 
			 2003 21,481 1,122 2,970 2,176 1,828 2,248 2,346 3,124 3,443 2,225 
			 2004 21,636 1,126 2,989 2,189 1,842 2,258 2,367 3,146 3,471 2,247 
			 2005 21,805 1,131 3,007 2,202 1,860 2,274 2,389 3,168 3,503 2,270 
			 2006 21,990 1,137 3,027 2,218 1,880 2,293 2,414 3,192 3,536 2,292 
			 2007 22,189 1,144 3,050 2,237 1,902 2,309 2,438 3,220 3,571 2,317 
			
			  Households   
			 1997 19,877 1,072 2,772 2,032 1,687 2,117 2,161 2,850 3,196 1,989 
			 1998 20,028 1,085 2,787 2,049 1,697 2,162 2,165 2,866 3,217 2,000 
			 1999 20,163 1,065 2,782 2,076 1,699 2,143 2,201 2,893 3,252 2,052 
			 2000 20,320 1,075 2,800 2,091 1,737 2,146 2,236 2,921 3,270 2,043 
			 2001 20,403 1,080 2,799 2,110 1,729 2,130 2,247 2,959 3,267 2,083 
			 2002 20,662 1,096 2,828 2,135 1,742 2,176 2,251 2,964 3,345 2,125 
			 2003 20,739 1,099 2,798 2,137 1,762 2,179 2,256 2,966 3,412 2,130 
			 2004 20,758 1,108 2,830 2,172 1,788 2,154 2,271 2,945 3,364 2,126 
			 2005 20,932 1,103 2,840 2,169 1,775 2,170 2,310 2,972 3,443 2,151 
			 2006 21,092 1,114 2,877 2,181 1,832 2,165 2,345 2,966 3,436 2,177 
			 2007 21,178 1,107 2,912 2,204 1,858 2,211 2,327 2,953 3,423 2,184 
			  Sources: 1. Dwelling stockCensus 2001; Housing Flows Reconciliation and joint returns by local authorities; Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities; Regulatory Statistical Return (RSR) as reported to the Housing Corporation by registered social landlords; Labour Force Survey. 2. HouseholdsLabour Force Survey.

Housing Associations

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many long-term empty domestic properties have been taken over by housing associations in England since 2000.

Iain Wright: This information is not held centrally.

Housing Associations: Finance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment her Department has made of the borrowing conditions experienced by housing associations.

Iain Wright: In January 2009, the Tenant Services Authority carried out a quarterly survey of housing associations to understand their exposure to the finance and housing markets. The TSA found that the housing association sector overall is demonstrating resilience and can help meet the unprecedented demand for affordable homes for rent.
	The full document is available at:
	http://www.tenantservicesauthority.org/server/show/ConWebDoc.17399/changeNav/l3640
	In summary the position in relation to private finance is:
	The sector continues to enjoy good access to finance with 5.0 billion of the 5.3 billion debt needed over the next 12 months already in place
	In total the sector has undrawn facilities of 14.6 billion and reports that it has sufficient security in place to enable access to this debt

Housing Associations: Finance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate she has made of the level of borrowing by housing associations in order to finance the building of new homes.

Iain Wright: The most recent information we have regarding association borrowing is from the Tenant Services Authority's January survey of housing associations. In total, the sector has facilities of 51.6 billion arranged and with drawn debt of 37.0 billion. The sector estimates that it needs 5.3 billion of debt to meet its commitments over the next 12 months including the delivery of new development. 5 billion of this debt is already arranged.
	A copy of the TSA survey of housing associations can be found on their website at:
	http://www.tenantservicesauthority.org/server/show/ConWebDoc.17399/changeNav/13640

Housing Market

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) Ministers,  (b) special advisers,  (c) full-time equivalent departmental staff and  (d) others were responsible for her Department's Objective 4 to deliver a better balance between housing supply and demand in each of the last five years.

Iain Wright: The average number of staff employed by my Department in delivering objective 4 was as follows.
	
		
			   Permanent staff  Ministers  Special advisers  Others  Total 
			 2003-04(1) n/a n/a n/a n/a 929 
			 2004-05 796 1.1 0.6 92 889.7 
			 2005-06 598 1 1 124 724 
			 2006-07 667 1 1 35 704 
			 2007-08 460 1 1 44 506 
			 (1) As objective was created during SR04 spending review there are no breakdown figures for 2003-04

Housing: Construction

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate she has made of the number of new domestic properties which will be  (a) started and  (b) completed in each of the next three years; and what proportion she expects to be affordable homes.

Iain Wright: Estimates have not been made by the Government of the number of new domestic properties which will be started and completed in each of the next three years, or on what proportion is expected to be affordable homes. The proportion of affordable homes in an area is a matter for local authorities, taking into account local affordability pressures.
	Our aim is to provide 70,000 affordable homes, of which 45,000 would be for social rent in each year at the end of this spending review period (2010-11).
	To help increase the supply of housing we have provided 8.4 billion to the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Housing Programme for the period 2008-11.
	The Government recognise that the current financial and economic conditions will make the achievement of new supply extremely challenging, but we are committed to doing all we can to meet long-term demand and need for housing.

Housing: Construction

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes were  (a) started and  (b) completed by (i) local authorities, (ii) housing associations and (iii) private builders in each year since 1997.

Iain Wright: The following table shows the number of annual, permanent dwelling, house building starts and completions by tenure, in England from 1997-98 to 2007-08.
	
		
			  Annual, permanent dwelling, house building starts and completions by tenure, in England from 1997-98 to 2007-08 
			   Starts  Completions 
			   Private enterprise  Registered social landlords  Local authorities  Private enterprise  Registered social landlords  Local authorities 
			 1997-98 127,830 19,630 260 121,350 27,890 320 
			 1998-99 121,200 17,550 130 113,720 26,360 180 
			 1999-2000 124,470 15,940 150 119,480 22,260 60 
			 2000-01 116,650 12,840 210 113,520 19,560 180 
			 2001-02 115,700 11,060 120 110,260 19,550 60 
			 2002-03 124,460 10,910 160 118,620 18,920 200 
			 2003-04 130,090 12,350 280 123,190 20,580 190 
			 2004-05 139,130 14,390 210 131,710 23,500 100 
			 2005-06 144,940 17,230 250 134,430 28,470 300 
			 2006-07 145,690 16,850 200 136,660 30,690 250 
			 2007-08 143,590 15,750 250 128,190 38,410 310 
			  Source:  RSL completions: Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS). All others new build starts and completions: P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House-Building Council (NHBC) to CLG

Housing: Finance

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she plans to publish the outcomes of her Department's review of finance for housing.

Iain Wright: The evidence gathering phase of the review is now complete and proposals for a new or improved system are being developed. The review will report to Ministers in the spring. We have said that we will hold a formal consultation once the review has concluded.

Housing: Low Incomes

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has allocated for affordable housing by  (a) region and (ii) London borough in the next three years.

Iain Wright: In England, over the three years 2008-11, we are investing over 8 billion in affordable housing through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The following allocations to the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) reflect regional assemblies recommendations and funding brought forward from 2010-11. These figures are indicative only to allow flexibility within the AHP to deliver the overall programme.
	
		
			  Indicative regional allocations of Affordable Housing Programme 
			  Region  2009-10  2010-11 
			 North East 76.4 50.6 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 148.2 100.0 
			 East Midlands 146.1 95.7 
			 East of England 337.5 219.0 
			 London 1,487.5 990.4 
			 South East 579.2 399.2 
			 South West 339.8 217.3 
			 West Midlands 213.6 154.1 
			 North West 243.1 166.2 
			 Total 3,571.3 2,392.5 
		
	
	Future levels of funds available for affordable housing beyond 2010-11 will be dependent upon the next spending review.
	Indicative allocations are not made to local authority level.

Housing: Prices

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effects of the publication of local crime maps on trends in  (a) house prices and  (b) home insurance premiums.

Iain Wright: Communities and local government have made no assessment of the impact of the publication of crime maps on  (a) house prices and  (b) home insurance premiums.

Housing: Standards

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent by her Department on the English House Condition Survey in each of the last five years.

Iain Wright: The Department's expenditure on the English House Condition Survey in each of the last five financial years was:
	
		
			million 
			 2003-04 3.7 
			 2004-05 4.1 
			 2005-06 3.6 
			 2006-07 4.4 
			 2007-08 3.4 
		
	
	Costs include VAT where appropriate. Variations between years are mainly due to accounting arrangements and do not reflect any significant changes in the running costs of the survey.
	The English House Condition Survey (EHCS) was run five-yearly from 1971 to 2001 and then continuously from 2002 to 2007, based on a random sample across all tenures of around 8,000 dwellings a year. An initial household interview was followed by an inspection of the home by a professional surveyor to provide objective and consistent measures of housing standards and energy performance. Further components were an independent market value survey and a follow-up survey of private sector landlords.
	The survey provides Government with an essential source of information on the changing condition and energy performance of the housing stock.
	In 2008, this survey and the Department's Survey of English Housing were merged to form the English Housing Survey. The new survey brings together the key features of both previous surveys.
	Further information about the EHCS, including annual reports, can be found at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/ehcs

Local Government Finance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what formula is used to calculate social housing grant payments to local authorities; and what changes have been made to that formula in each of the last three years.

Iain Wright: We have announced that local authorities will be invited to bid for social housing grant in future, alongside arm's length management organisations, registered social landlords and private developers. The Homes and Communities Agency allocates grant through a competitive bidding process in which all schemes are assessed against a single set of criteria. The criteria are set out in a prospectus published by the agency; a new prospectus is issued for each bidding period and sets out the criteria for that period. The criteria for 2008-09 are set out in the prospectus for the 2008-11 Affordable Housing Programme, and the criteria for the previous period are set out in the prospectus for the Affordable Housing Programme for 2006-08. The current prospectus is available on the Homes and Communities Agency website. The previous prospectus is available on the website of the Housing Corporation, the now closed body which was formerly responsible for running the affordable housing programme.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that assets of funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are invested in a manner  (a) appropriate to expect future demands,  (b) which minimises risk and  (c) consistent with provisions of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC on derivatives.

John Healey: The relevant sections of Article 18 of the European Council Directive 2003/41/EC is implemented by the Occupational Pension Scheme (Investment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No 3378) made under powers in Sections 244 and 245 of the Pensions Act 2004. However, those regulations apply solely to investments made in relation to trust-based schemes and do not apply to statutory schemes, such as the Local Government Pension Scheme which is subject to its own specific provisions made under Section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972.
	In making investment decisions, scheme pension fund authorities must comply with the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 1998 (as amended), which impose on them the need to have proper regard to risk, diversification and the need to act prudently, having taken expert advice.
	As part of the Funding Strategy Statements that individual pension fund authorities in England and Wales are required to publish they must consider also the liabilities of their funds in determining their funding position and assess the risks of adopting different local investment strategies.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will provide the European Commission with an implementation report of how the law applicable to the Local Government Pension Scheme complies with the provisions of the Activities and Supervision of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive in accordance with Article 22(2) of Council Directive 2003/41/EC.

John Healey: Responsibility for the implementation of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC or for reporting any matters regarding its transposition to the European Commission rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. My responsibility extends to ensuring that the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales complies with any occupational pension scheme legislation made as a consequence of the directive's implementation.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  whether the Local Government Pension Scheme is an institution for occupational retirement provision under Article 6 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC;
	(2)  whether the funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are institutions for occupational retirement provision under Article 6 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC.

John Healey: The Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales and its individual funds fall within the definition of an institution for occupational retirement provision for the purposes of Article 6.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons it was decided to exempt the Local Government Pension Scheme from the provisions of Articles 9 to 17 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC.

John Healey: In exercising the power conferred on member states under Article 5 of the directive, the Government decided that statutory schemes with a guarantee from a public authority were to be exempt from the legislation which implemented Articles 9 to 17.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are legally separated from the administering authorities, in accordance with Article 8 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC.

John Healey: The legal separation referred to in Article 8 is intended to ensure that the assets of a pension scheme like the Local Government Pension Scheme are safeguarded and pension benefits protected for scheme beneficiaries in the event of the sponsoring employer being declared bankrupt. In the case of the Local Government Pension Scheme, pension benefits are guaranteed by statute and would be paid whenever entitlement arose regardless of the solvency of individual participating employers.
	It was on this basis that the scheme was exempt from the Government's legislation introduced in 2005 to transpose Article 8.

Local Government: Pensions

Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that the assets of funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are invested in the best interests of the scheme members, in accordance with Article 18 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC.

John Healey: The Government take the view that the Local Government Pension Scheme is compliant with Article 18 of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC. However, draft proposals are currently the subject of a statutory consultation exercise about a change in the scheme's investment regulations to clarify the duty of care owed by elected members of scheme pension fund investment committees to beneficiaries, to participating employers and to taxpayers.

Mobile Homes

Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will undertake a review of planning law relating to caravan parks, mobile homes and chalets; and if she will make a statement.

Iain Wright: We have no plans to undertake a review of the planning law governing caravan parks, mobile homes and chalets.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of people who will receive assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme in the next 12 months.

Margaret Beckett: The 200 million Government Mortgage Rescue Scheme has been operational across the country since 1 January 2009, following fast tracking by up to 80 local authorities in December 2008.
	The scheme aims to support up to 6,000 of the most vulnerable households in England at risk of repossession over the next two years.
	The Government have not published any estimates of the number of households it expects to benefit from the scheme in its first year. The scheme is demand-led, with the number of vulnerable households benefiting from the scheme dependent on the number of eligible households approaching their local authority for assistance.

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what regulatory impact assessment has been made of the  (a) Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme and  (b) Mortgage Rescue Scheme.

Margaret Beckett: We are finalising arrangements for opening the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme with the first lenders and will publish an impact assessment when the scheme is launched in April.
	The impact assessment for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme was published on 16 September and is available at:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/homeownerssupportpackage

Non-domestic Rates: Small Businesses

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will assess the merits of making the small business rate relief scheme automatic.

John Healey: In light of the economic downturn, the Government are sympathetic to the aim of helping smaller businesses. However, without the application it would be difficult for the local authority to establish whether a ratepayer occupies more than one property. This is a condition of entitlement to the small business rate relief scheme, particularly if that property is located outside of the billing area in which relief is being claimed. Those ratepayers certifying that they meet the given criteria do receive the relief.

Non-domestic Rates: Small Businesses

Ian Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her most recent estimate is of the number of businesses in each local authority area which have received rate relief in each year since 2005.

John Healey: The latest reliable information on the number of businesses claiming rate relief is that, at 31 December 2006, local authorities reported that there were 392,000 businesses claiming small business rate relief.
	Data on the number of businesses who receive rate relief as at 31 December 2008 are currently being collected and will be available later this year. This will include the number of businesses receiving the various mandatory and discretionary reliefs and small business rate relief but not transitional relief.

Planning Permission

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations she has received on planning applications being considered by planning inspectors in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement.

Iain Wright: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department and the Planning Inspectorate receive a wide range of representations each year in relation to appeals and called-in applications which are before planning inspectors.

Property Transfer

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have transferred  (a) all and  (b) part of their housing stock to housing associations.

Iain Wright: Tables listing those local authorities who have transferred all and or part of their housing stock to registered social landlords have been placed in the Library.

Rented Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of all homes were  (a) housing association-owned,  (b) local authority-owned,  (c) owner-occupied and  (d) privately rented in each year since 1997.

Iain Wright: The following table shows the dwelling stock in England owned by registered social landlords, owned by local authorities, owner-occupied and privately rented as a proportion of the estimated total dwelling stock in each year since 1997.
	
		
			   Percentage  
			  As at 31 March  Registered  social landlords  Local authority  Owner-occupied  Private rented  All dwellings (thousand) 
			 1997 5 16 68 10 20,622 
			 1998 5 16 69 10 20,778 
			 1999 5 15 69 10 20,927 
			 2000 6 14 70 10 21,075 
			 2001 7 13 70 10 21,207 
			 2002 7 13 70 10 21,337 
			 2003 8 11 70 11 21,481 
			 2004 8 11 70 11 21,636 
			 2005 8 10 70 12 21,805 
			 2006 8 9 70 12 21,990 
			 2007 8 9 70 13 22,189 
			  Source: Census 2001; Housing Flows Reconciliation and joint returns by local authorities; Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities; Regulatory Statistical Return (RSR) as reported to the Housing Corporation by registered social landlords; Labour Force Survey.

Social Rented Housing

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to her Department's press notice of 2 September 2008 entitled Ensuring a fair housing market for all, how many of the planned 5,500 new social rented homes have been  (a) built and  (b) occupied to date.

Iain Wright: On 2 September 2008, we announced that 400 million would be brought forward to deliver 5,500 more social rented homes. Of this 100 million has been made available in 2008-09 and 300 million in 2009-10. On average it takes around 12 months to build out most schemes, so it is too early for any to have been completed and occupied.

Social Rented Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes for social rent were built  (a) by local authorities,  (b) by housing associations and  (c) privately in each year since 1997.

Iain Wright: Social rent new build figures are collated from the Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS), Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns and P2 house building returns submitted to CLG by local authorities and the National House-Building Council (NHBC).
	The following table shows the number of affordable homes built in England each year, by tenure, according to who took ownership of the home and then provided it for social rent.
	
		
			   Registered social landlords  Local authorities  Tenure not known  Total 
			 1997-98 23,690 320 0 24,020 
			 1998-99 22,430 180 10 22,620 
			 1999-2000 19,520 60 40 19,610 
			 2000-01 17,300 180 750 18,230 
			 2001-02 17,510 60 1,070 18,640 
			 2002-03 16,590 200 720 17,510 
			 2003-04 16,600 190 1,580 18,370 
			 2004-05 17,410 100 1,270 18,790 
			 2005-06 18,560 300 1,660 20,510 
			 2006-07 19,160 250 2,090 21,500 
			 2007-08 23,210 310 1,860 25,390 
		
	
	Not all social rented housing is provided through new build completions, supply can also come from the acquisition and refurbishment of private sector homes. In 2007-08, an additional 3,980 social rented homes were supplied through acquisitions which are not included in the figure above.
	The CLG figures on affordable housing reflect who provided homes for social rent, rather than who built the homes.

Social Rented Housing

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to revise the Government's targets for  (a) new social rented housing and  (b) new homes.

Iain Wright: The Housing Green Paper, Homes for the Future: more affordable, more sustainable, published in July 2007, set out the Government's ambition to increase housing supply.
	The Government recognise that the current financial and economic conditions will make the achievement of substantially increased housing supply extremely challenging. We remain committed to doing all we can to meet long-term demand and need for housing.
	To help achieve our commitment we have brought forward investment, of 550 million, and have been exploring with the Homes and Communities Agency new ways of securing new homes for social rent and affordable housing.

Tenant Services Authority

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions she has had with the Tenant Services Authority on its charging policy in respect of mobile consultations with tenants' associations.

Iain Wright: There have been no discussions with the Tenant Services Authority because they do not have a charging policy in respect of mobile consultations with tenants.

Tenant Services Authority

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many tenants  (a) took part in the Tenant Services Authority's (TSA) National Conversation and  (b) visited the TSA's camper van.

Margaret Beckett: The total number of tenants who participated in  (a) the Tenant Services Authority's national conversation and  (b) visited the TSA's camper van is currently unavailable. These figures are currently being analysed and the results will form part of a report which the TSA will publish in early summer.